Pureblood
by sugarwitch
Summary: Purebloods. The royalty of the magical world... or so i thought.
1. Bullies, Some Called Us

**Chapter 1**

_Bullies, Some Called Us_

Great friends. Great boyfriend. Great grades. My seventh, and last year at Hogwarts was going to just as great as the last six had been. Or so I thought.

The past six years my friends and I had made a name for ourselves as the most feared group in the school. We were the ones who people dashed out of the way for in the corridors for fear of being blasted by a curse. Who the younger kids offered to do homework for in hopes that they too may be seen as worthy enough to become one of us. The ones with superb magical talent, not afraid to delve into the darker and more secretive side of magic that we all knew held the real power we so badly craved.

Bullies, some called us.

But in our eyes, that's not what we were at all. We were the ones with the purest of magical blood running through our veins. The only ones who were truly supposed to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as the great Salazar Slytherin had wanted centuries before we were born.

Purebloods. The royalty of the magical world. Therefore, it was our right.

Many of the Pureblood families, though there are now so few, believe in Pureblood dominance. My only shame was that I didn't belong to one of these families. My own family, descendants of the great Spanish philosopher, Gervasio Cortez, though they are Pureblood themselves, had never been too fussed with the topic of blood status. To them, witches, wizards and muggles alike, were all equals. They are what we called blood traitors, no better then the disgraceful muggle-borns. Only myself, Alexandra Cortez, having been sorted into the house of Salazar Slytherin, and taking on the belief that Purebloods are superior, had become the one exception within the Cortez family.

That was what I believed for so long.

But it was our last year. And being part of one of the most prominent groups at Hogwarts, I expected we would have the school in the palm of our hands. I had no idea then how wrong I really was. As my friends were one by one corrupted by the whispers of a rising terror, I found my world turned upside down, and was soon forced to make the decision between sticking by the ones I loved, or fighting for what I believed was right.

-----------------------

The year started as any normal Hogwarts year does. On the scarlet steam engine, the Hogwarts express. I roughly shoved my heavy trunk into one of the overhead luggage compartments, and sunk down into the seat next to my best friend, Bellatrix Black, who was absent-mindedly flicking her wand back and forth, making the compartment door open and close noisily, whilst thumping her foot against the side of the seat at the same time.

"Bella you do realise how annoying that is, don't you?" I sighed heavily as I rested my feet on the seat opposite me.

"Sorry, Alex. I'm just so bored! I wish the train would hurry up and start moving already" Bella complained in her oddly shrill voice, letting the compartment door slide closed with a loud _thump _and proceeding instead to twist her long black hair around her fingers.

I rolled my eyes "I repeat myself again, patience is a virtue you do not possess, my dear. The train will start moving as soon as everyone's boarded. Besides, you wouldn't wanna leave without the boys would you? You KNOW how incapable they are of keeping track of time" I said with a small smirk.

Bellas mouth twisted into a smile, she looked at me with her dark eyes and was about reply, until she was interrupted by the sound of the compartment door being opened roughly.

"Ah girls, we knew we'd find you here already" Evan said as he smiled at us both.

He looked good when he smiled, I thought. He had these perfectly straight white teeth that made his smile look absolutely charming. With his sandy blonde hair, dark blue eyes, and not to mention his slightly tanned, Quidditch player physique, Evan Rosier could quite easily be the most good-looking guy at Hogwarts. The only problem however, he's a Slytherin.

"Of course, Evan" I replied, smiling cheekily and wagging a finger at him "Tardiness will not be tolerated"

"Yeah yeah" Evan chuckled at my (very unconvincing) impression of Professor McGonagall, our Transfiguration teacher, before taking a seat next to my feet.

It was a rare thing to hear Evan laugh. Outside the company of his friends he always had a somewhat intimidating scowl plastered on his face. Laughter suited him much more. However, we couldn't hope to keep up out menacing Slytherin personas if we were seen strolling around Hogwarts castle laughing like a pack of hyenas, could we?

Behind Evan came Rodolphus Lestrange, who happened to be Bellas' boyfriend. He took a seat on the other side of her and slung his arm casually around her shoulder. Bella was so ecstatic since she hadn't seen him in the past couple of weeks, that she was practically jumping up and down in her seat.

"Oh Roddy I missed you soooo much!" she cooed while fussing herself with Rodolphus' shaggy, chestnut brown hair, which he obviously hadn't bothered to comb this morning seeing as how it was sticking out all over the place. Rodolphus simply rolled his dark brown eyes and sunk down into his seat a little more.

I heard Evan snicker at the scene and glanced his way to find him looking over at Bella and Rodolphus, trying terribly hard not to laugh. He was always giving Rodolphus a hard time about how Bella babied him so much, he thought it was absolutely hilarious. Rodolphus on the other hand, did not.

Evan caught my eye and at that moment we both burst out laughing. Rodolphus blushed slightly and Bella whipped around to face us, her dark eyes twisted into a glare.

"What are you laughing at?!" she demanded.

"Oh, nothing Bella" Evan replied smoothly, containing his laughter. This answer apparently suited Bella who turned right back to Rodolphus and started fussing over him again.

While all this was going on, Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy had also entered the compartment. Severus pushed my feet off the seat they were resting on and sat himself down across from me.

"Oh I missed you soooo much, Sevvy!" I shrieked, mocking Bellas' earlier outburst. Thankfully Bella, who was still too occupied with Rodolphus, hadn't noticed or she would've been in a sour mood with me the entire trip back to Hogwarts.

Severus merely grunted in response, but by the small grin I could see peeking out from behind his long, black hair I took it to mean "I missed you oh so much too, Alex!"

I nudged Severus' knee gently with my foot "I saw that smile, Sev, I know you missed me" I teased.

Severus pushed his hair out of his face and looked at me with his dark grey, almost black eyes.

"Well my summer certainly was very dull without you, Alex, I'll tell you that much" he grinned at me before pulling a book out of the bag he had on the seat beside him.

I couldn't quite see the title of it but I could tell the last few words were "the Dark Arts". I shook my head; Sev had always had a fascination with the Dark Arts. He wasn't much of a talker, he always seemed to be reading. That's probably why he's so smart. I smiled to myself as I thought about it. Sev was one of my favourite people in the whole world. I had always admired his individuality, and the way he didn't care about what people thought of him. Most unlike all the other Slytherins we were surrounded by, who would give their left leg to become the most admired witch or wizard in all of England. I guess because Severus is the only half blood in our little gang, he doesn't seem to mind so much how people perceive him.

But although he mostly keeps to himself he's often the target of much taunting. Namely from one group in particular, "The Marauders", or the "bunch of morons" as I prefer to call them, but more about them later. I'd never hesitate to stick up for Sev in any of these situations, and I know he'd do the same for me in a heartbeat. In a strange way, I guess I like to think of Sev as a kind of brother to me. Besides Bella, he's my best friend.

"What's on your mind, love?" a silky voice came from beside me. Lucius Malfoy, my wonderful boyfriend, had taken a seat next to me and was watching me with his icy blue eyes as I was lost in thought, his eyebrows slightly raised.

"I hope you're not thinking about other men, Alexandra" he said while trying to look serious, but I could see the hint of a smile playing on his lips.

Ah, here we go with the "Alexandra" business again. You see, all my friends usually just call me Alex. Except for Lucius of course. He, for some strange reason that I will never know, prefers to call me by my full name, no matter how many times I tell him not to.

"Wouldn't you like to know" I teased while nudging his arm softly. He smiled at me slightly in return, before starting conversation with Evan about who they think might be on the Slytherin Quidditch team this year. Evan was a Beater on the team, as was Rodolphus. Lucius played Keeper, and since the Captain of the Slytherin team had now left Hogwarts, he was hoping to fill the position. These boys were very serious about Quidditch, especially when they were matched against the Gryffindor house team. I wasn't really into Quidditch myself, but I still liked to watch all the games and support our team… and not to mention join in the pre-game tradition of trying to curse the other teams' players before the match.

I looked out the window which Lucius was sitting beside. I could see puffs of pearly smoke floating by, which could only mean one thing. We were finally about to leave for Hogwarts. A second later, the train lurched forward, confirming my thoughts. Also at that moment, the compartment door slid open once more, revealing the last three members (if they could even be called that) of our posse. Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus' younger brother, entered first.

"Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to the Hogwarts Express. We do hope you have a pleasant journey and remember… blast as many Gryffindors as you can!" he howled with laughter as he took a seat between Evan and Severus. Rodolphus rolled his eyes, we were all too used to this. Rabastan then looked across at me and winked. Me and Bella looked at each other, our eyebrows raised.

You see, although Rabastan looked like a miniature version of his brother, unlike Rodolphus' quiet demeanour, he was a real talker. Boy did that kid have a motor mouth on him, sometimes it was impossible to get him to shut up. He also likes to think of himself as a bit of a ladies man. I don't think he seems to realise that when a 5th year tries to chat up all the 7th year girls, they don't actually take him seriously. But there's no telling Rabastan that, you'd be better off talking to a parrot. Merlin knows he talks as much as one.

Behind Rabastan followed his best friend, Regalus Black. Regalus was Bellas little cousin, and also (unfortunately) the younger brother of the biggest idiot in all of England, Sirius Black. Apart from bearing an unfortunate resemblance to his brother (not saying he's bad looking, coz he's actually not at all. It's more the fact that I despise his brother) he was actually a rather sweet kid. Really bright too, Reg had always done well in all his subjects, much to the delight of Rabastan who, simply put, needs all the help he can get.

Last of the Tag-Along Trio was Narcissa Black, who entered the compartment nervously, closing the door softly behind her.

"Geesh, Cissy! Can't you guys see there's no room left in here?" Bella turned her attention from Rodolphus to her younger sister "There's no reason why you three couldn't go and sit with people your own age instead of tagging along after us all the time" she spat.

"Now, now Bella. Play nice" I joked while smiling at Narcissa who, upon finding there were no seats left, had sat herself down cross legged on the floor in front of Bellas feet. When it came to looks, Cissy was the complete opposite of her sister. She had long, straight blonde hair which she always pulled back into a ponytail. She also had very light blue eyes, almost the same as my own. Narcissa wasn't really much of a talker either, she preferred instead to just listen to what everyone else had to say. She was a good kid though, I had always treated her as if she were my younger sister.

After that, to break the silence that had formed, Rabastan thought it might be a good plan to tell us all his story about the gnome in his garden that had bitten his ankle over the summer holidays "There was a huge big gash right along my ankle, and there was blood everywhere! I thought for sure I was gonna have to go St. Mungos, maybe even get it amputated!" He went on, using his usual oversized gestures to emphasize his story just that little bit more "Lucky I remembered one of those healing charms Professor Flitwick taught us last year, or else my foot would've been HISTORY!" he cried out, chuckling to himself.

I felt Lucius wince at the sudden outburst. He had never really had a lot of patience for Rabastan and his far-fetched stories. I didn't really blame him to be honest, they WERE quite ridiculous sometimes… okay well maybe most of the time.

"Oh Merlin, it was a tiny little bite! And YOU didn't do anything to help it, while you were rolling around on the ground whining about how your foot was gonna fall off, Mom was the one who healed it!" Rodolphus snapped at his brother, who ceased laughing immediately and turned a bright shade of red, causing me and Bella to snigger quietly.

I looked back out the window again, watching the fields and hills as we passed by. It would be a little over three hours before we arrived at Hogwarts, so what better way to pass the time then catch up on some sleep, I thought. I leaned my head against Lucius' shoulder and yawned loudly before closing my eyes, attempting to tune out Rabastans new story about the "vampire" next door, and after a while, drifted off to sleep.

**A/N: Hey everyone! So what do you think of this new story? I know that according to their birthdates some of the characters are supposed to be different ages lol but oh well, for this story we're just gonna pretend that's how old they are ) i'd love if you could review and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading.**


	2. Old Enemies, New Tricks

**Chapter 2**

_Old Enemies, New Tricks_

"Alex… Alex… wake up" I was woken suddenly by someone shaking my shoulders gently. It was Bellatrix. She was holding her school robes and looking down at me, an amused expression on her pale face.

"Come on, sleepy head" she smirked "You've been sleeping for ages, we need to get changed before we reach Hogwarts"

I yawned loudly and looked beside me. Lucius was gone. I had obviously been placed beside the window when he left as I was now in his seat, leaning against the side of the compartment.

Outside, the sky was beginning to darken, which I took to mean we would be arriving at Hogwarts shortly. I stretched my arms in the air before standing up and looking around. Severus still had his nose in his book. I noticed though he had changed into his school robes. Rodolphus also had changed and was now dozing lightly in his seat, his arms folded and his chin resting against his chest. Evan wasn't here anymore either, no doubt he was wherever Lucius was.

I noticed Narcissa sitting quietly, by herself, looking out the window thoughtfully "Hey Cissy, where did Reg and Rabastan go?" I asked her.

"They've gone to change" she replied softly, not removing her gaze from the window. I noticed that she too was in her school robes.

I reached up to my trunk and grabbed my new, black robes out of it. I held them and admired the Slytherin emblem that was stitched on the front of them for a few seconds before turning to Bella.

"Let's go then" I said and she led the way out of the compartment into the hallway.

The hallway was rather crowded, people were walking to and fro, between their compartments and the bathrooms. I sighed huffily. Trust everyone else to leave getting changed to last minute as well.

Bella and I made our way through the crowds, pushing people out of our way roughly. Most of the students jumped out of our way when they saw us though so not much shoving was needed. That was until, we found ourselves face to face with two very smug looking boys.

They looked down at us both, as they were considerably taller then the two of us, stupid grins spread across their equally stupid faces. Most of the students nearby dashed quickly back to their compartments, knowing too well what was gonna happen next. Some of the more curious students hung around, cautiously watching the scene, yet ready to bolt at any time if things turned nasty, which they most likely would.

"Well, well, well. Looks like we failed to run the snakes outta school last year, Prongs" One of the boys sneered. I scowled. It was Sirius Black.

His light grey eyes were shining with maliciousness as he smirked at me. I knew that look only too well, it was the way he looked when he was out to cause trouble. The look he saved especially for the times he happened to run into me. Oh, how special I felt. Not.

"Get out of our way, Black!" Bellatrix screeched at him, her dark eyes burning with hatred.

Like me there was no-one Bella hated in the world more then Sirius Black. Except perhaps, his equally despicable best friend, James Potter, who was also standing in front of us, his arms folded across his chest smugly.

Sirius turned his attention to Bella "What's the magic word, dear cousin?" he smirked in reply, knowing full well how much Bellas blood boils whenever he calls her that. It wouldn't be too hard to identify them as relatives, mind you. They both had the trademark Black good looks, strong, handsome features, and hair that was blacker then night. The only difference between them was their eyes. Sirius' were as light as Bellas were dark.

"How _dare_ you call me that! You filthy blood traitor!" Bella spat "You're no longer a part of my family".

You see, Sirius Black was what we called a blood traitor. A pure-blood who insists on mingling with the lower wizarding folk. As is shown by his best friend, James Potter, a half-blood. At the end of last year Sirius ran away from home, said he didn't agree with his parents views on the purity of the wizarding race. His parents, Walburga and Orion Black (who I must say are quite nice people, they're always so lovely to Bella and I whenever we see them) were so ashamed of him. Needless to say, they no longer regard him as a son. Not a big loss anyway, in my opinion.

"Such harsh words" James joined the argument smoothly, ruffling his messy, black hair as he did so "It's hard to believe she comes from the same gene pool as you, Padfoot" he said to Sirius with a smirk, fuelling Bellas anger even more. By this time she looked absolutely lived. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides and she was shaking with rage as she tried to steady her breathing.

"Stay out of it, Potter" she warned. Her voice was low and full of anger.

James looked amused "Now, now Black. That's no way to speak to your Head Boy"

A disgusted look spread across Bellas face "_You_ got Head Boy? Who in their right mind would make you Head Boy"

"I sure did" James grinned broadly "It seems Dumbledore thinks I'm an able candidate for the job. So this year, if you or any of your little friends cause us any trouble, it's completely in my power to punish you for it. In fact, I think I'll take fifty points from Slytherin right now. What a way to start the year, don't you agree, Padfoot?" he asked Sirius who smiled smugly in return.

"It is indeed, Prongs. I think we're gonna have a lot of fun this year with this new position of power you've been so generously awarded" Sirius replied, smirking at me the whole time.

I growled lowly. It was time the tables were turned, I thought. Now we're playing dirty.

"So, how are things going with that Mudblood, Evans?" I asked James casually "Last time I heard she had started dating that Ravenclaw guy… oh, what was his name? You know, the _really_ good-looking one" I smirked as James face became more twisted with every word.

"Oh yeah I know who you're talking about. He's really smart too" Bella added, now playing along "I heard he got top scores in all his O.W.Ls last year"

"Wow, that's impressive" I replied, feigning amazement "Oh now I remember, Xavier Stone" I shook my head in mock sympathy "Too bad you didn't get the girl, yet again, Potter. Better luck next time, eh?"

Now it was James turn to look furious. Everyone knew the guy was totally in love with the schools "Goody-Two-Shoes" Lily Evans, who apparently didn't share the same affection for him as he did for her. She also happened to be a Muggleborn. Or Mudblood, as we liked to call her. So whenever the words "Evans" and "Mudblood" came out of my mouth in the same sentence, I was more then likely to end up with a slight concussion. This theory was proved right as I found two wands pointing directly at my face. Both Sirius and James were scowling at me, both looked as angry as the other.

I laughed softly "Hit a nerve, did I boys?" I knew I was in for it now, but the look on their faces was totally worth every minute of it. And not to mention the damage that Lucius, Evan, Rodolphus and Severus would surely cause if they lay a finger on me. Or in this case, curse.

Bellatrix had also whipped her wand out of her pocket and was pointing it at the boys threateningly. I hadn't bothered to expose my own. To arm myself with a wand would only show I was scared of the idiots standing in front of me hitting me with a curse. Which I most definitely was not. It was either very brave or very foolish of me. Probably both.

Bella cackled excitedly at the scene. As beautiful as she was, she always looked like a total maniac when she laughed.

"I've warned you a million times" James began slowly, through gritted teeth. His hazel eyes were glaring daggers at me from behind his black-framed glasses. His fury was evident in his voice "DON'T call Evans a Mudblood!" he roared.

I merely stood there, rolling my eyes at the exaggeration.

"Okay, first of all, you haven't told me a _million _times. More like…" I started counting on my finger but quickly lost track "Fifty times. And second of all" I smirked before I spoke, preparing myself for the attack that was about to come "Evans _is _a mud blood"

With two loud cries and a flash of blue light I hit the floor with a hard crash. As I did so my head had hit the side of a compartment door and was now throbbing painfully. I rubbed the spot where I had hit it and felt something wet covering my hair. I pulled my hand away and examined it. It was blood.

It was one thing for those boys to curse me. But it was another to spill my blood. I was furious.

I got to my feet and strode right back over to where I was standing before I was blast by their spells. I saw James frantically running around on the spot, grabbing at his arms and face. By the looks of things, Bella had cast a nice _Furnunculus _curse on him which had caused painful boils to break out all over his skin. I couldn't help but stifle a laugh. As disgusting as he looked, it was absolutely hilarious to see him panicking like that.

Bella and Sirius were still standing, face to face, their wands pointing at each other. Sirius drew his arm back to cast a curse, but before he had the chance I shouted "_Sectumsempra_!". A handy little spell that Severus had shown me last year, but one I knew would get me into a lot of trouble.

At that moment however, I didn't care. I needed to get Sirius back for the gash he had inflicted on my head.

The curse hit Sirius in the arm he was holding his wand with, which he immediately dropped to the floor. He fell to his knees, clutching his arm in pain. He was dressed in his school robes already so I couldn't see the damage, but by the blood I could see seeping through his clothing I could tell it was bad.

"What the fuck was that?!" he cried out as he rolled up the sleeve of his robes, revealing a large, bloody gash running up the length of his arm. The few people who were still standing around watching gasped in horror. I however, grinned in triumph. I looked at Bella who had an equally triumphant look on her face. That was until we heard a familiar voice coming from down the hallway which caused her face to fall considerably.

"What is going on here?!" Lily Evans shrieked as she pushed through a few people who were standing in front of her "Potter?! What's happening?" she asked James who had quickly turned so he was standing with his back to her. He was covering his face with his hands, obviously in an attempt to hide the rather unattractive boils from Lily.

"James Potter! Look at me while I'm speaking to you!" she demanded in a voice which I thought sounded a great deal like Professor McGonagalls.

"No! I don't want you to see me like this" he replied pitifully. But before he knew it, Lily had ripped his hands away from his face and spun him around to face her. I laughed quietly at the disgusted look that had appeared upon her face

"A _Furnunculus _curse" She stated while looking at the boils "It's nothing too bad. You're gonna have to go to the Hospital Wing as soon as we get to Hogwarts to get that cleared up"

James nodded sulkily in reply and shot a glare at Bella.

Sirius, I noticed, was still on the ground groaning in pain. Lily turned her attention to him next. She kneeled down beside him to examine the wound on his arm. Her eyes widened in shock as she inspected it "Oh my… I've never seen anything like this before. It looks like Dark Magic! I don't think a simple healing charm is going to fix this" she stated as she ripped off some of the material from the bottom of Sirius' robe and tied it tightly around his arm to stop the blood flow "You'll have to get Madame Mellick to have a look at this" she said whilst shaking her head in confusion "Who did this?"

Sirius used his un-injured arm to point directly at me. I glared at him whilst pulling a rude hand gesture.

"I should've known" Lily scowled as she walked up to me. "What spell did you use on him?" she demanded.

"Oh, just a little curse a friend of mine taught me" I smirked.

"That spell is dangerous. You could've seriously hurt him!" Lily yelled.

I snorted in response "You really think I care? The world would be a much better place without scum like Sirius Black living in it"

Lily gasped and her eyes widened in horror at my remark "How could you say something so horrible? I'm reporting this straight to your Head of House when we get to Hogwarts"

I snorted once again, knowing that if it was only Professor Slughorn I had to deal with, I'd get off lightly.

"Be my guest" I replied casually, intending to turn around and march straight back to our compartment.

That was of course, before _she_ came.

**A/N: ooooo who's "she" i wonder p mwahaha it's a secret lol but anyway i really hope you liked this chapter, and if you have time please review, i'd love to hear your thoughts, annnd thanks for reading! **


	3. Unpleasant Encounters

**Chapter 3**

_Unpleasant Encounters_

"Lily why did you take off like… oh MERLIN! Sirius, darling, what happened to you?!"

I should have seen it coming. I really should have. Wherever Lily Evans goes, her twit of a best friend is usually three steps behind. So it makes perfect sense that she'd come bustling down the corridor and swooping immediately to Sirius side.

It's okay, I thought, she's too horrified at the thought of "darling Sirius" being in pain then to notice my presence. Maybe I can slip away unnoticed…

I made small hand gesture to Bella who immediately understood it's meaning, and ever so slowly we started backing away, not for a second taking our eyes off the hysterical mess that had clung herself onto Sirius' arm, demanding an explanation for why he was injured.

"Ouuuuuch!"

Dammit. We were so close. Two more steps and we would've been home-free. But NO that's not how it went. Bella, it seems, had accidentally stepped on the toe of a nearby Hufflepuff boy who had stuck around to watch our recent confrontation, and apparently it had hurt the poor little fellow so much that he had to let out the biggest yelp that his lungs could deliver, consequently turning all heads in our direction. I let out a low growl and turned in the boys direction. He was young, probably a second year I guessed. I was spared, however, by cursing the little dimwit, as Bella had shoved him roughly into the nearest wall, causing his eyes to fill up with tears before he dashed off down the corridor. I smiled a little in satisfaction.

"YOU!" Oh Merlin, here we go…

I turned around to face the girl who was stalking towards me angrily. It was somewhat like staring into a mirror, except for a few minor differences. The "reflection" had shoulder-length black hair which flicked out at the bottom, and also a slightly longer nose and wider mouth. Oh and another thing, she was a complete mental case.

"_You_ did that to poor Sirius, didn't you?! Do you have NO self-control?! Oh wait a minute, we all know you DON'T! You know you're a total psycho, right?" the girl screeched, forcing me to rub my left temple gently in an attempt to steer off the oncoming migraine that I knew her voice was bound to cause.

If you haven't already guessed, the abuse I was receiving was coming from my twin sister, Serenity Cortez.

Gryffindor. Bimbo. Nut-Case. Just a few words I often use to describe her. However, unlike most twins I know who seem to be sewn together at the shoulders, Serenity and I could not be more different. Simply put, we hate each others guts. She's the prissy and popular Gryffindor. And I'm the arrogant and bitchy Slytherin.

Not hard to figure out who everyone deems the "evil twin"

Oh and if you're wondering, no Serenity is not Sirius Blacks girlfriend. You see, Serenity is blatantly obsessed with the boy. It's quite pathetic really. But what makes the situation really hilarious is that Sirius seems to have no interest in her whatsoever. As funny as that is though I never really understood why. I mean, this is Sirius Black, the most notorious "man-whore" at Hogwarts. He's never dismissed any girl who's ever thrown herself at him. Well, not the good-looking ones anyway. And Serenity isn't exactly a troll. She's _my_ sister for heaven's sake, so she's gotta look at least half-decent. But not to worry, seeing the look on her face as she's constantly pushed away from Sirius is a lot more entertaining then seeing her sucking face with him could ever be. Unless of course they weren't sucking face by choice but more because a certain binding spell had forced them to do so. Now _that_ would be entertaining.

"Are you even _listening_ to me?!" I was brought back to the current situation by Serenity snarling at me, her hands placed on her hips dramatically. Her eyes, which were identical to mine, a light grey-blue colour, were full of despise as she glared at me.

I stared back, my own eyes emotionless "Why would anyone wanna listen to a voice that sounds like fingernails scratching on a blackboard?" I said tonelessly, not expecting an answer. Well, not an intelligent one anyway.

Serenity then made some strange noise that sounded like a scream mixed with a growl "I _hate_ you!" she shrieked "I'm glad you decided to disown our family, you selfish pig! You can rot in Azkaban for the rest of your life as far as I care" she pointed a long, perfectly manicured finger in my face "You know what? I'm gonna-"

But I never found out what Serenity was going to do as I had lazily flicked my wand in her direction and cast a non-verbal silence spell on her. Pretty clever of me, I thought.

"Shut it, Serenity" I snapped. Serenity tried to reply, but even though her mouth was moving, no sound came out of it. She turned to Lily and started making frantic, over-sized hand gestures to her, motioning for Lily to take the spell off her. I didn't stay around to find out what happened next, though no doubt Little Miss Two-Shoes would've removed the spell off Serenity. I stalked back in the direction of our compartment, Bella following behind me.

I found myself vaguely thinking about what it was Serenity was going to say before my silence spell cut her off. No doubt it'd only be something pathetic like talking my parents into cutting me out of their wills or something. Not that I cared if they did. I wasn't exactly on the best terms with my parents these days, I hadn't spoken to them in a little over a year. They've tried to contact me, sure, but personally I don't want anything to do with a pair of blood traitors like them. Both of my parents are Pureblood, aswell as Serenity. However, they've never been too fussed with the topic of blood status. They all seem to believe in equality between wizards and witches, and that blood status has no importance. Disgraceful. Any person who wants to mingle with filthy Mudbloods and Muggles are no relatives of mine.

On our first day of Hogwarts, when Serenity was sorted into Gryffindor, and I into Slytherin, my parents were overjoyed. Which house we were sorted into was of little concern to them, although my mother did express subtle concern about some of the students who I would be in close proximity with, being a Slytherin. Her concerns soon became more prominent as I soon made friends with the type of people who her and my Father deemed the "wrong crowd". They especially frowned upon my friendship with Bellatrix. Although they were polite and friendly whenever they met her, the didn't hesitate to share their concerns when she wasn't around. I wouldn't hear a word of it.

In the summer just before my 6th year, my mother and I had a particularly nasty fight. She had started one of her usual rants about how she would prefer if I made some slightly more "humane" friends. I had politely told her that the people I called friends were far more worthy then all the filth that made up the rest of Hogwarts, put together. Including Albus Dumbledore. Well that had really done it. My parents are avid supporters of Dumbledore and his "Equality for all Witches and Wizards Alike" trash. My mother informed me that if she didn't see some changes in my attitude that she would pull me out of Hogwarts, so I couldn't mingle with those "awful people" as she liked to call them, and ship me off to Beauxbatons. Things had gotten pretty heated by then, and I said a few things I don't wish to repeat. I made the decision right then and there that I would no longer be associated with those blood traitors, and after packing my bags, headed off to Bellatrixs' home where I've been spending my holidays ever since. Bellas family is now as good as my own.

I entered our compartment to find there was still no sign of Reg and Rabastan. Cissy had disappeared somewhere too. Lucius and Evan I noticed had returned and were quietly whispering to Sev, who had put his book to the side for now. However, they immediately stopped when they saw me enter. I eyed them suspiciously before taking my place next to Lucius. Bella entered after me and slammed the door behind her moodily, then dropped down next to Rodolphus, causing him to wake from his slumber.

"Where'd you disappear to earlier?" I asked Lucius, trying to sound casual but still a little suspicious as to what the boys had been discussing. If it had been any normal topic of conversation, such as Quidditch or Hogwarts, they would have kept on chatting away during my presence. Something seemed to be off.

"I just had some… _business_ to take care of" Lucius replied coolly, but as I watched his face I saw him shoot a look at both Evan and Sev which I could've sworn meant "Keep your mouths shut".

I shrugged it off though. Lucius tended to get snappy whenever I pressed on about certain things. Besides, if it was anything terribly important then Sev would probably inform later on anyway. I slumped back into my seat.

"What happened with you girls anyway? I thought you went to get changed" Lucius said as he looked over what I was wearing. Dark blue jeans and a black, hooded jumper. After my run in with the Gryffindors I had completely forgotten about getting changed.

"We ran into Black and his cronies" I replied bitterly. I don't know whether it was the tone of my voice or just the fact that a meeting between Sirius and I always ended in trouble, but Lucius asked darkly "What did he do?"

"More like what did Alex do" Bella cackled slightly, causing the corners of my lips to curve upwards into a small smile as I remembered the look on Sirius' face the moment my curse had hit him.

"Oh?" Lucius raised his eyebrows "Well what did you, love?" he asked me, clearly amused.

"I used your curse, Sev" I smiled at Severus, who was sitting across from me "Sectumsempra. On Sirius Black"

Severus' eyes widened at this and a small smile crept onto his face. He pushed his hair back from off his face "Where'd you get him?"

I shrugged "In the arm. I considered aiming for his face but, well, you know how Mr Pretty-Boy Black is, he'd be off crying to Dumbledore faster then you can say Salazar, and I'd no doubt be tossed out on my sorry little Slytherin ass"

"You know, he'll most probably go crying to Dumbledore anyway, Alex" Evan said with a small laugh.

"Ah well, if he does that, I'll just say I was acting in self-defence. Him and that half-wit _did _attack me first after all" I replied, a grin spread across my face as I waited for the outburst that was sure to come.

"They WHAT?!" Lucius, Evan and Severus all shouted at the same time. Rodolphus, who had obviously not found our conversation exhilarating enough to stay awake, was once again woken abruptly.

"What did they do?" Lucius asked again, scowling slightly

"They hexed me. I called Evans a Mudblood again so they seemed to think that was enough reason to send me flying down the corridor" I replied. I noticed Sev stiffen somewhat at this, but merely ignored it.

"See, look" I showed them the cut on my head from where I had hit the wall. The blood around it had began to dry and was matted in my hair. It wasn't a very big cut, but it still hurt a hell of a lot.

"Ouch" Evan cringed when he saw it "That looks kinda deep, maybe you should get Madame Mellick to check it out?"

"I agree. You better get it fixed up as soon as you can" Lucius added sternly.

I grumbled a little "Okay okay I'll go to the hospital wing as soon as we get to-" The train screeched and suddenly came to a halt. I looked out the window at the darkened sky. The massive outline of a castle was visible through the darkness, the windows all alight with lanterns. I could hear people in the corridors scrambling to get out of their compartments and off the train. "Hogwarts" I finished my sentence.

"Good girl" Evan teased as he stood up to grab his trunk from the overhead compartment "And don't worry about those Gryffindor idiots, we'll take care of them" he added with a wink.

I smiled appreciatively. Sirius Black and James Potter were certainly gonna pay for what they did.

"Hey, what about us? Me and Alex wanna join in on the fun too" Bella smirked, raising her eyebrows at me. I chuckled softly. That's just like Bella, always up for a fight.

"Now you boys get out of here" Bella said as she shooed the boys out of the compartment then added with a cackle "Alex and I need to change".


	4. Feeding Frenzy

**Chapter 4**

_Feeding Frenzy_

"Owwwwww!"

I rubbed my temple slowly for the second time that day as Sirius Black let out a howl of pain.

I found myself now in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts, lying on one of the rather comfortable beds that were laid out in two rows along the length of the room. Bellatrix, who despite her protests I had managed to drag along with me, was seated at the end of my bed near my feet, watching the scene in front of her with a look of pure amusement etched upon her face.

"Watch what you're doing, woman! That hurts!" Sirius shrieked at Madame Mellick, our elderly, and somewhat strict school nurse, earning himself a slight smack across the head from the old woman. I didn't blame her really, for hitting Sirius I mean. One look at that mug of his could make almost any sane person want to smack him one.

"Sirius Black! How many times now have had to warn you about your manners? That's no way to speak to a lady" Madame Mellick growled the boy who was lying on another of the hospital beds in front of her.

I tutted mockingly "I would have thought by now, Mr Black, that you had learned to respect your… _superiors_" I smirked, laying extra emphasise on the word "Superiors".

Sirius bolted up abruptly, seemingly in order to position himself correctly for another "battle of wits" with me. However, in his haste he had laid all his weight on his injured arm and once again howled in pain and fell back onto the mattress beneath him.

Madame Mellick shook her head "It wouldn't hurt so much, foolish boy, if you'd just learn to keep STILL" she said sternly before returning to dabbing Sirius' wound with the green, sticky looking paste that she held in a jar in her hand.

Bellatrix let out a snicker, earning another death glare from James, who was seated on the bed next to Sirius', looking awfully moody and still covered in a whole lot of pussy-looking boils. I looked over at Bella, and as soon as our eyes met we burst out into a fit of laughter.

"Now, now girls. I don't see what's so funny about this situation" Madame Mellick scolded as she finished dabbing Sirius' wound with the green paste and reached for piece of Expandable Bandage, which lay on the dressing table next to the bed. I watched as she stretched the seemingly small piece of white fabric around Sirius arm, again and again until it covered up his entire wound.

"Mr Black has a serious wound here" she continued on her rant. I looked at Bella and rolled my eyes. Hogwarts staff were so dramatic. She turned her attention back to Sirius "Now dear, you'll need to get a lot of rest tonight. The wound should be almost fully healed by the morning. However, there will most probably be a bit of scarring"

Sirius eyes suddenly widened in horror. Followed by his mouth dropping wide open.

"You… you mean… my a-arm… will be scarred? He asked shakily.

I rolled my eyes once again. So what if there was a bit of scarring? Trust Mr Pretty-Boy Black to act like it was the end of the world. He was staring straight ahead of him, shaking from head to toe. He looked like someone who had just been told that his best friend had been in a terrible broom accident and died a tragic death. Which obviously hadn't happened, as said best friend was sitting on the bed right next to Sirius' own. Unfortunately.

"Yes, Mr Black, that's what I said" Madame Mellick said as she shook her head" Now onto you, Mr Potter".

I watched Sirius as he continued to stare ahead of him. I swear I could even see the faintest glimmer of a tear forming in the corner of his eye. I scoffed. He was such a baby. Sirius' eyes then came to rest upon mine, and the look on his face turned from pure horror, to an even purer hate.

"You're going down" He said in a harsh whisper "Just wait til Dumbledore hears about this"

I mocked an expression of fear "Oh, I'm SO scared. The big, bad Gryffindor and the crazy, old man are gonna get me. You're the one who should be worrying, Black. You and your little side-kick over there" I hissed, indicating to James, who was now jumping around excitedly, as the Boil-Cure potion Madame Mellick used had cleared his boils right up.

"Oh yeah? So I guess you've already run crying to your idiot of a boyfriend and his gang of bullies then?" he sneered "A typical example of Slytherin cowardice".

I could feel my blood boiling once again. I was used to Sirius throwing insults at me, but no-one… and I mean NO-ONE insults my boyfriend AND my friends and gets away with. I reached for my wand, but before I had time to do anything, James "Idiot" Potter bounced in front of Sirius' bed, still jumping around like a moron. I growled lowly.

"Sirius! Look! I'm back to normal! My beautiful body is back to normal!"

Sirius turned his attention from me, to his best friend, and forced a smile "That's really great, Prongs"

"Now let's go down the great hall for dinner, eh Padfoot? Hopefully we've missed all of Dumbledores speech, and can get straight into the food!" James said with a bout of laughter.

"Come on then. Let's get outta this snake-pit" Sirius said with a last glare at me, then turned to Madame Mellick "Thanks for everything, doll" he said with a cheeky grin before him and James rushed out of the hospital wing. Madame Mellick shook her head once again, but had an amused expression on her face.

A loud gurgling noise suddenly diverted my attention. I turned to find Bella rubbing her stomach gently "Did you really HAVE to drag me here with you, Alex? I'm absolutely starving!"

"Of course I had to, Bella, you wouldn't just leave me stuck here with those idiots all on my own, would you? Besides, I'm sure this will only take another few minutes then we can go straight down to dinner" I replied as Madame Mellick starting inspecting the cut on my head. Bella mumbled something I couldn't hear, not that I cared about what she had to say at this time anyway.

"Hmm, not too bad… just a dab of this should clear it right up" Madame Mellick explained as she reached for the same jar of green paste that she had used on Sirius' arm. She put a small bit on the end of her finger and applied it to my cut. I immediately felt a cool, tingling sensation in that very spot, and then it kind of went all numb. The pain from it was completely gone.

"That should do it. You girls may run along to dinner now. And please try to keep out of trouble, I won't be very happy if I see you back in here as a result of another spat with those boys" Madame Mellick said sternly before turning to clean up all her medical supplies from the bedside table.

"Yeah, yeah…" I mumbled before catching up to Bella who had already made a mad dash for the door.

---------------

We entered the Great Hall to find an absolute feeding frenzy. I guess you never really notice it when you're sitting amongst them all, but watching the teenagers of Hogwarts eat, is a very bizarre… and somewhat scary experience.

Bella and I guided ourselves between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables to find the spot where we usually sat for meals. I swear, just walking down that aisle was an experience in itself. At one point along the way we had to watch ourselves as we walked behind a group of younger Slytherin boys who seemed to think that good table manners consisted of throwing the remains of their food over their shoulders onto the stone floor behind them, every now and then hitting one of the unfortunate Ravenclaw girls who were seated across from them, looking completely disgusted. I smacked one of the boys on the back of the head and hissed at them "What are you, a bunch of barn animals? Learn some proper table manners before I'm forced to MAKE you learn them".

The boys all looked at me nervously, then nodded their heads furiously, saying things like "Yes, Alexandra" and "Right away" before turning cautiously back to their meals. I smiled in triumph before continuing down the table and placing myself on the bench in between Lucius and Sev.

I sighed slightly before filling my plate up with roast chicken and vegetables that were placed in front of me.

"All better, love?" Lucius asked me as he took a sip from his goblet.

I nodded in reply as I cut off a piece of my chicken and placed it in my mouth. I chewed it slowly, taking in the full flavour. The house elves at Bellas house were capable of producing delicious meals, but I had to admit that they were nothing compared to the meals that the Hogwarts House elves cooked everyday. I don't think I've ever tasted anything better.

I was just about to take my second mouthful of chicken when a strange feeling came over me. You know, the kinda feeling you get when you're being watched.

I looked across from me. Bella was absolutely digging into the food on her plate. Rodolphus and Evan were seated either side of her, all three of them eating as if their life depended on it. On the other side of Evan was the Tag-Along Trio. Cissy was moving her food around her plate with her fork; she looked like she'd barely even touched her meal. I frowned slightly. That girl was so thin, it wouldn't hurt her to eat a decent meal for once.

I noticed next, that Rabastan, who was seated beside Cissy, was shovelling food into his mouth and talking animatedly to Regalus at the same time. And that's when my suspicions were confirmed. Reg was sitting there, his arms folded across his chest, apparently finished with his meal and completely oblivious to the fact that his best friend was having a full-blown conversation, seemingly with himself. His stormy grey eyes were fixed on me, small frown lines were etched on his forehead. He looked troubled. I noticed his wavy black hair was falling into his eyes slightly, much like his older brothers. It unnerved me how similar the two of them looked…

"Alright there, Reg?" I asked, laying my knife and fork down beside my plate and smiling at the raven-haired boy.

His cheeks flushed slightly at being caught staring, but he managed to keep his cool "Sorry Alex, I was just wondering… well, I heard about your run in with my… with Sirius Black. I was just wondering if you're okay, that's all"

My smile grew a bit wider. He was worried about me, how sweet.

"Reg… I have run-ins with Black and his friends every other day, I'm always fine… you know that. Besides, he's not gonna get away with it so easily this time" I said, with a smile to Lucius "No need to worry about anything, okay?"

"Okay…" Reg replied softly, but he was still frowning. There must be something up. I made a mental note to ask Reg about it later on, privately. But for now, my attention was fully focused on… my food!

As I turned back to my plate I found that it was completely empty…it had been full not a minute ago! I looked around the table angrily, searching for the culprit. This was the problem with hanging out with a bunch of guys, if you're not fast you don't get to eat at all.

I heard a small snicker and turned in Evans direction, glaring daggers at him. He had his eyes glued to his plate… which was topped up with chicken and vegetables!

"You!" I shrieked, pointing a finger squarely at him.

Evan couldn't hold his amusement in any longer, he burst out in a fit of laughter.

"Sorry Alex, if you snooze you lose. You should've seen your face!" he chuckled. I noticed Lucius roll his eyes before sipping from his goblet again.

"Not funny, Evan! You can't just steal someone's food while they're not looking!"

"Well it looks to me like I just did" he teased. Bella cackled at the scene while Rodolphus hi-fived Evan, who was grinning like a lunatic. Even Sev had a small smile playing on his lips as he peeked out from behind his curtain of hair.

"Oh ha ha, so funny… not" I said sulkily.

"Aww, come on Alex, don't look like that… I was just kidding around. If you REALLY want it back, you can have it" Evan said gently. I looked up at him hopefully, ready to accept my food back. But the next thing I know, Evan ran his tongue all the way up the side of the biggest piece of chicken, then placed it back right in the middle of the plate.

I wrinkled my nose. Boys really were disgusting. I didn't have time to retaliate though as Lucius had kicked Evan right in the knee from under the table.

"Shit!" Evan cried out, while gripping his leg "Merlin, that hurt!"

"Perhaps it will remind you to be a little more courteous in the future, Evan" Lucius said coolly, shooting me a small smile. I felt my heart skip a beat as he did so and grinned back at him. Now it was Evans turn to sulk. I couldn't help but laugh at the pout that his mouth had turned into.

That disappeared in a few moments however, when all of the dinner plates were magically cleared from the tables and replaced instead, by mountains of ice-cream, chocolate mud cake, pumpkin pasties, and every other kind of dessert you could imagine. Evans eyes widened in delight.

If there was anything worse then dinner at Hogwarts… it was dessert.

**A/N: Hiya! I know these chapters have been coming out really fast, but that's because i already had them all ready lol so there might be a bit of a wait for the next one because i haven't started writing it yet. But anyway, ****please remember to review if you've got the time, okies? And remember, constructive criticism is always welcome**


	5. Partners In Crime I Mean, Potions

**Chapter 5**

_Partners In Crime... I Mean, Potions_

I fell back onto my comfortable, green and silver clad bed with a small sigh. I didn't even bother to change out of my robes first. After the day I'd had today I was fully ready to just curl up and get some much needed sleep.

My head sunk down into the luxuriously soft pillow while my mind was slowly slipping in to dreamland. However, such bliss cannot last for long. I was suddenly interrupted from my serene state by none other then my "charming" room mate. Bella, who like me had been looking forward to some much needed rest, was lying on her stomach with her head at the foot of her bed. She scowled at the girl who had entered the room and rushed over to join us.

"Alexandra, Bellatrix, darlings!" The tall, leggy blonde, gushed as she hurried to my side. She attempted to stoop down and give me a friendly hug, but as I displayed no sign of returning the gesture, she settled instead for smiling down at me with her blindingly white teeth. Isabella Mosely. A girl who was almost as sickingly perfect as our dear Head Girl, Lily Evans. Almost.

"How was your summer, dear?" Isabella asked me in the annoyingly posh voice that she always used. She spoke as if she were 20 years older then she actually was. The same could be said for the way she dressed. Her hair was done up in a rather elaborate hairstyle, full of coils and pins, and I noticed she was wearing a string of ivory pearls around her neck. If it wasn't for the black and green school robes she was wearing, anyone would think the girl was on her way to a formal ball.

"So-so" I replied offhandedly while stealing a glance at Bella, who I caught rolling her eyes in Isabella's direction before dropping her head between her arms, her hair flopping all over the place. No attempt at all to save me from Isabella Moselys clutches? What a friend.

"Well mine was absolutely superb!" I was cruelly forced to realise that my little chat was Isabella had not yet ended, as I had so hoped. "I spent my time in Venice with Mother and Father; they bought a new holiday home there. You simply must come and spend some time with me there, maybe over Christmas break? It's wonderfully exquisite!" She gushed while looking at me hopefully. Isabella often invited me to spend the holidays with her and her family, even though I hadn't yet taken up any of her offers. She seemed to think we were friends or something. Strange girl.

"Sorry, Isabella. I'm not really fond of France. The air over there's too… stuffy for my liking" I lied, as I had never actually been to France, or Italy as I knew that was where Venice was rightly located, while rolling over to face away from the blonde, hoping she'd take my hint and leave me in peace.

"But, Alexandra, Venice is in Italy, not France" Isabella replied, a little exasperated. This girl completely disapproved of a persons lack of knowledge. I often found it amusing to watch her become flustered as she corrected my many "mistakes".

"Italy, right. That's what I said" I replied while waving my hand in the air nonchalantly, signalling for her to go away, as my earlier attempt had obviously failed. Luckily at that moment, the last of our room mates, Kendra Carysfort and Violet Parkinson, had entered the room and thankfully stolen Isabella's attention away from me.

"Girls! How wonderful to see you again" I heard Isabella quickly rush off to greet the new arrivals. It was almost sickening how desperate the girl was to fit in with everyone. I knew for a fact that Kendra and Violet weren't too keen on Isabella, yet unlike Bella and I, they made somewhat of an effort to be nice to her.

"Hello Isabella, nice to see you… oh, Alexandra's here already. Hey, Alex!" Violet called out in her squeaky voice. I was now starting to get fed up with all these interruptions. Instead of acknowledging my room mates presence, I simply sat up, drew the dark green, velvet curtains around my bed huffily, and buried my face back into my soft pillow. 

"Now's probably not the best time, Violet. You know our Alexandra, she needs her beauty sleep" I faintly heard Isabella say softly before I tuned them all out and eventually nodded off.

The next morning I woke up feeling wonderfully refreshed. I sat up in bed and groggily looked around the room, rubbing my eyes as I did so. Isabella was nowhere to be seen, thank Merlin. Her bed had been made perfectly and her trunk was sitting neatly closed at the foot. I noticed a couple of framed photos of her family sitting on her bedside table, all smiling cheerfully. I almost gagged.

Kendra and Violet weren't so tidy. Their beds were still in a mess, blankets and pillows strewn about. I noticed that they too were nowhere in sight. Next to me, Bella lay sprawled out across her bed, one of her legs was dangling over the side and her mouth was open unattractively. She was snoring quietly.

Strange, I thought, that the other girls would be gone before us. Usually we were all up around the same time, scrambling to use the bathroom, which I almost always got first, unless Bella happened to get out of bed before me. But that was awfully rare. It was only when I looked at the clock which hung on the wall next to the door that I was realised why the other girls were gone. It was 8.45. Our first class of the day, which just so happened to be Potions, started in exactly 15 minutes.

Well usually, any normal student would be in a fit of panic right about now, probably rushing around trying to find all their school supplies while simultaneously trying to keep themselves from hyper-ventilating. I, however, merely stretched my arms in the air and yawned loudly, before getting out of bed to shake Bella awake. 

Bella protested with a moan, before getting reluctantly out of bed in order to get ready for our day.

Half an hour later we started on our way down to the dungeons. We didn't have any time to eat breakfast so instead Bella produced a bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans out of her pocket, for us to munch on the way. Not the most nutritious breakfast I must admit, but better then nothing.

"Hey Alex" Bella mumbled as she flicked what looked to be a Snot flavoured bean onto the stone floor in front of her "Do you think Slughorn will say anything to us about what happened on the Express yesterday?"

"Oh definitely" I replied with a nod as I popped a Peppermint flavoured bean, my favourite, into my mouth "But you know Sluggy. We'll get off easily" I added confidently as we reached the entrance to the Potions class. I pushed the heavy door open, I had never noticed how noisy that old thing was before. Bella and I strolled inside, ignoring the numerous stares we were getting as we did so. Professor Slughorn had stopped speaking as we entered, and now had his eyes on us, looking slightly annoyed.

"Nice of you to join us Miss Cortez, Miss Black" The large, walrus-like man addressed us as we sat in a pair of seats behind Lucius and Evan at the back of the classroom "You do realise that you are 20 minutes late, do you not?"

Now was my time to shine. I have to say that I'm not really that great of an actor, but somehow Professor Slughorn seemed to fall for my acts every time "20 minutes? Are you sure, Professor? I could've sworn that we had at least 10 minutes to spare when we left for class this morning" I replied while feigning a look of innocence.

I heard someone scoff over on the other side of the classroom. I looked over to see Sirius Black and his little friends glaring over at me. Not to mention my sister, Serenity, and Lily Evans, who were not looking at all impressed with my performance. I realised then that we had Potions with the Gryffindors again this year, the same as last year. When will Hogwarts quit torturing me like this? I shot them all a cheeky little smirk before turning my attention back to Slughorn.

"Oh, well, in that case… It must've just been a mix up, I'll let you girls off with a warning this time. But you should really get that clock of yours checked out as soon as possible" Slughorn said sternly, before breaking out into a smile and continuing on with the lesson.

Lucius turned around and gave me a quick wink before turning back to concentrate on the lesson. I grinned rather stupidly at the back of his head for a minute or two after that. Just one look from that guy could make me melt.

"Now class, today we will be preparing a simple little draught, just to get you back into the swing of things. The Befuddlement Draught. But before we do that, I will be sorting you into pairs. Whoever i pair you with, will be your Potions partner for the remainder of the year" Slughorn informed us all.

I wasn't too fazed by this piece of information. Last year I had been lucky enough to be paired up with Sev, and I must say we totally aced the class together. Sev was a really smart guy, and Potions seemed to be his strong point. And I wasn't too bad at Potions myself, I even kinda enjoyed it sometimes. I was sure that I'd be paired with one of my friends again this year.

"This year however the pairs will be a little different" Slughorn continued "They will all be Gryffindor/Slytherin pairs, with the exception of one with will consist of two Gryffindors, as we unfortunately have uneven numbers in the class"

I don't think there was one mouth in the entire class that didn't drop open at this moment. Never in our entire schooling lives had we had to be paired with someone from another House. Why should this year be any different?! I was just about to open my mouth to protest against this when someone else beat me to it.

"What?! Why do we have to be paired with _them_?" Sirius Black shrieked at Slughorn, who looked very much taken aback. 

"Please try to keep your outbursts under control, Mr Black. The Headmaster wishes to enforce a sense of unity between the Hogwarts Houses this year, which is why I will be sorting you into Gryffindor/Slytherin pairs. Now if there are no further questions, I'll start reading out the list"

Everyone was still too stunned to even think of any questions, so Slughorn began to read off a clipboard he was holding in his small stubby hands in front of him. 

"Ahem. The first pair will be: Remus Lupin and Isabella Mosely"

To my surprise, Isabella didn't look too upset by this. Remus on the other hand, was looking rather pale. Whether it was due to a previous illness, or the fact that he had to be paired with Isabella, I couldn't tell. But if I was him, it would've been the latter.

"The next pair: Serenity Cortez and Evan Rosier"

I couldn't help but snicker quietly at this one. Evan turned and glared at me. I grinned cheekily in response. Payback for stealing my dinner last night.

"Peter Pettigrew and Violet Parkinson" Slughorn called out next. I looked over at Peter Pettigrew and felt instantly sorry for Violet. He was a small, slightly plump boy with watery blue eyes, who hung around with Sirius Black, James Potter and Remus Lupin. Or better know as "The Marauders". Stupid name if you ask me, what kind of group of friends names themselves? I didn't even see why the others would want to be friends with Pettigrew; he seemed to be completely useless at everything. Bad grades, not so great looks, horrible friends. That boy didn't really have anything going for him. But you never know, maybe he's a real comedian or something. Although that's highly doubtful.

"Lily Evans and Severus Snape" I breathed out slightly in relief as this pair was called. There are only two people in Gryffindor worse then Lily Evans, and I didn't particularly want to be paired up with any of them. In fact if I did end up partners with any of them I may have to drown myself in the lake.

"Frank Longbottom and Lucius Malfoy" Who on earth is Frank Longbottom? I looked over to the side that the Gryffindors were sitting on and noticed a lanky, mousy-haired boy glance nervously over at Lucius. That must be him. I looked at Lucius next and saw that his own expression remained unchanged. I wonder what he was thinking. 

"James Potter and Alexandra Cortez"  
Oh… Merlin. No way! I am NOT going to be stuck with big-head Potter the entire year. Is there _any_ worse form of torture? Any at all?! I was just about to raise my hand in protest when Slughorn announced the next pair.

"Sirius Black and Bellatrix Black" Suddenly I forgot about my own dilemma and my eyes immediately shot to Bella. I knew this wouldn't go down well with her at all. And I was right. She abruptly shrieked from next to me, in her screechy voice "What?!"

Slughorn looked up from his clipboard at the dishevelled girl who had now risen from her desk and was looking furious "Professor you can NOT pair me with that... that… thing! If you do I'm afraid I'll be forced to leave your class! I simply can't spend a whole year with _him_!" she spat angrily.

Sirius, who had also jumped up from his chair, banged his fists on the desk in front of him and bellowed "I agree!"

"Don't agree with me, you filthy swine!" Bella turned and spat in Sirius' direction. Sirius, who looked a little confused, was preparing to retaliate before Slughorn took control of the situation.

"Merlins beard! It's not that bad is it" he asked the two, only to be met by angry glares "Alright, alright… if you really insist then I guess I can swap you around. Miss Black, you will be paired with Mr Potter, and Mr Black with Miss Cortez.

What?! Now was my turn to protest, however once again I was cut off by big-mouth Black and his equally big-mouthed friend "I refuse to work with that snake!" Sirius and James both yelled at Slughorn at the same time.

Slughorn, who looked awfully offended at their choice of the word "snake", being the Head of Slytherin himself, had turned a dark shade of red "I will NOT tolerate name calling in my class!" he said angrily "Mr Black, Mr Potter, you will have detention with me tonight for your lack of respect for other students. And as for the pairs, what I say is final. So either choose to accept them, or return to your Head of House and ask to be removed from my class" he said sternly, causing the two boys to quickly shut up and sit back in their seats, still looking furious.

Sirius looked over at me grumpily. I'd never seen him look so utterly miserable. But believe me, I knew how he was feeling, I wasn't exactly looking forward to the prospect of spending the entire year being Sirius Blacks potions partner. 

Professor Slughorn returned to reading out his list and I slumped back in my chair moodily, feeling utterly defeated, and contemplating whether i really should drown myself in the lake.

**A/N: Okay so I know the whole being Potions partner with Sirius Black thing is so cliché… but oh well. This isn't really the best chapter, it was pretty rushed lol so I promise to put a little more work into the next exciting instalment. This chapter was getting kinda long so I thought I should stop it there, I might continue on with this scene in the next chapter though and we'll see how all the partners work together hmm? As always, remember to review, and I hope you're enjoying the story! **


	6. Touch Of Ice

**Chapter 6**

_Touch Of Ice_

"Black! You idiot! That was the Sneezewort, I told you to add the Lovage!"

"How was I supposed to know which one it was, they both look exactly the same!"

"You are such a brainless git, they look nothing alike!"

"Yes they do! Look!"

And with that, Sirius Black threw both the Sneezewort and the Lovage directly at me. I shrieked as the two potion ingredients collided heavily with my face. It was only when I had grabbed the small knife I was using to chop up the Scurvy-grass, and brandished it threateningly in Sirius' direction, that Professor Slughorn stepped in.

"People, please, calm down!" he commanded whilst removing the knife from my trembling hand "You two need to stop arguing so much and learn how to get along, if you have any hope of passing my class this year. Mr Black, you've earned yourself another detention, tomorrow night. This is a classroom, not a Quidditch pitch"

Sirius glared at me spitefully.

"And Miss Cortez, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to give you a detention as well. This sort of behaviour is simply not acceptable. I'll expect you in my office at 9 o'clock tonight" And with another disapproving frown and a quick shake of the head he waddled off to the table where Bella and James were working, and who were obviously getting along just as well as Sirius and myself.

When Slughorn was out of ears reach, Sirius hissed at me "You are such a _bitch_. Don't think I've forgotten what happened yesterday either, I'm still gonna get you back for that. Look at this" as he spoke he rolled up the left sleeve of his robe, revealing the gash that ran up his arm. The bandage had been removed, and the wound looked almost fully healed, but despite that, you could already see that he was gonna be stuck with a pretty nasty scar.

I whistled lowly "Oh, that's impressive. But it's not that bad. Look on the bright side, now you can go around making up stories to all your fan girls that you got it from a life or death battle with a deadly dragon over the summer holidays. I'm sure they'd be absolutely drooling over you then" I said with a chuckle, feeling quite clever.

Sirius scowled at me "First of all, I don't have "fan girls". And second of all, that story wouldn't exactly be a lie. A wild, scaly dragon _did_ do this to me".

I was a little taken aback by the dragon remark. It wasn't often that Sirius Black could come up with such a witty comeback. But as usual, I was determined to use this to my advantage.

"Aww, I'm flattered that you would compare me to such a magnificent creature, Black" I replied while faking a smile. Sirius' face turned absolutely livid, as I knew it was not in his intentions to compliment me at all.

"And as for your fan girls. Well, just take a look for yourself" I directed his gaze to a few tables across, where Serenity was sitting next to Evan, moodily staring over at Sirius and I. I noticed her eye twitch slightly as her own met mine, and she quickly turned back to the cauldron in front of her where Evan was stirring their potion. 

Sirius turned back to look at me, the expression on his face still incensed.  
"Serenity's _not_ my fan girl. She's my… friend" he said, struggling a little to spit out the word friend.

I snorted and said with a laugh "Friend? Yeah right. I bet you only hang around with her and her daft friend, Evans, because Potter forces you to"

Sirius' face flushed slightly at this and I knew that what I said was right. 

"You know" I continued, enjoying the fact that I was getting on Sirius' nerves "I never did understand why you weren't interested in dating Serenity. I mean, she's completely in love with you, she's not _that_ bad looking, and everyone knows she's totally easy. Sounds like your kind of girl, huh?"

I had initially asked this question simply to annoy Sirius. But now that the words had left my mouth, I found myself actually wondering what his reply would be. What was the mysterious reason behind Sirius Black never sparing a second glance at Serenity Cortez.

A few seconds passed before the bell for our break rung, and I could hear the other students shuffling around the classroom to grab their belongings. I hadn't moved an inch. My eyes were still fixed on Sirius, waiting for the next words that would leave his mouth.

Sirius sighed quietly and stood up from his seat. He picked his potions book up from off the table and turned his back on me. He was just gonna ignore me. Typical idiot Black.

I have to admit, I was feeling quite annoyed that he'd done so. I was so close to finally finding out what the reason was that he'd never given Serenity the time of day, hoping that it would be some new ammo that I could taunt her with. 

I was just about to rise from my chair when suddenly Sirius turned back to me, the scowl he had been wearing the entire lesson was still plastered on his face, yet he had his eyes fixed firmly on the ground below him. And then he spoke in a low voice.

"The reason I've never been interested in Serenity is…" he hesitated, and looked up into my eyes "Because she reminds me of _you_. Anytime I've looked into her eyes, I've seen you staring back out at me".

And that was it. He turned right back around and strolled over to where James, Remus and Peter were waiting for him by the door, before leaving the classroom.

I have to admit that I was a little surprised at his answer. _I_ was the reason that Sirius Black didn't like Serenity? I just couldn't see why, considering that my sister and I were nothing alike.

_"Anytime I've looked into her eyes I've seen you staring back out at me"_

It's true that Serenity and I did have identical eyes. But what kind of reason is that not to like someone? I just didn't understand it. It's not like he'd be gazing deep into her silvery-blue orbs while he was making out with her in the darkness of the astronomy tower, as he was so well known for… Eww, disgusting mental image. Go away, go away, go away.

"Alex, what the hell are you doing?" I heard Bellas voice come from behind me. I turned to find a rather confused expression on my best friends face. I guess I must've looked a bit strange, shaking my head around like that.

"Uhh…" I began to explain but was cut off as Professor Slughorn had shuffled up beside us. His large, blonde moustache was twitching above his lip as he spoke "Girls, I'm glad you're still here. I'd like to have a word with you both if I may. It seems that Professor McGonagall is a bit miffed at some of the incidents that occurred on board the Hogwarts Express yesterday. She's asked if I might talk to you about it. Please, step into my office".

I gave Bella a look that said "I Told You So" before following Slughorn into his familiar dull office at the front of the potions class.

Two Detentions. I had already landed myself two detentions and it was only the first day back at Hogwarts. I must say though, I feel that Professor Slughorn went awfully easily on us for the Express incident. Apparently Professor McGonagall, the old hag, had argued that Dumbledore should be the one to decide our punishment. But Dumbledore had insisted on letting Slughorn take the honour, as he was our Head of House. 

Thank Merlin for that.

The rest of our day had passed by rather uneventfully. After Potions, Bella, Severus and I had Arithmancy. And then finally we all had Defence Against the Dark Arts. Which I found, much to my annoyance, was also with the Gryffindors. But apart from the usual looks of reproach from a certain individual who shall remain unnamed, and the meeting of our rather intimidating new Defence teacher, Professor Keyes, who I very much suspect may be a vampire, all was well.

That night after dinner I found myself sitting alone in the quiet, stone common room, save for a few younger girls who sat huddled in one of the dark corners, seemingly working on their homework, but shooting me nervous glances every so often. Bella had stalked off to the library in search of some poor, defenceless student she could force to do our Arithmancy essays for us, and I hadn't seen the boys since I left the Great Hall earlier that evening.

I stretched myself out along the couch I was on and grabbed my copy of the book we had been assigned to read for our Defence homework. The thick book I plopped onto my lap was titled "A Beginners Guide to The Dark Arts" yet another reason I suspected Professor Keyes to not be of the living kind. He seemed more intent on teaching us about the Dark Arts itself rather then teach us how to defend ourselves against it. Not that I was complaining though. A few of the Gryffindors however, namely Lily Evans, were.

I sighed to myself as I turned the first page and scanned over the index. Basic hexes, information on Dark creatures, praise of the name "Salazer Slytherin" on every page. Kiddy stuff. As if I didn't know this all already. When you were as close to the likes of Severus Snape as I was, and not to mention a part of the infamous Slytherin House, you couldn't really help but to know the basics.

Yawning loudly, I sat up and set the book down onto the small table beside the couch. I was heavily tempted to head straight upstairs and jump into my cozy bed, but remembering that I had detention with Slughorn tonight, I thought it better to get that out of the way rather then risking getting landed with even more.

I decided it better if I went to search for Bella, so I could hurry her up as she would've no doubt forgotten. But before I could get up off of the couch, I felt an icy chill on the back of my neck. I raised my hand to find the source of the coldness and gasped a little when I found my own hand meet with another. I whipped around to find a piercing, icy blue gaze looking down at me. I breathed out a little in relief as I realised that it was only Lucius who was standing behind the couch I was seated on.

"Did I frighten you, love?" He asked me in a steely voice. I noticed that the tone of his voice was not concern, but more curiosity.

"Just a little" I replied softly "Your hands are so cold, where have you been?" I asked as I took his hands with my own and directed him around onto the couch where he sat down beside me.

"I was a little restless after dinner" Lucius replied coolly "I went for a walk around the grounds, that's all" I noticed his eyes flicker to the side as he spoke this last part. A little habit that he had. A little habit that he had only when he was lying.

"But it's only September. It's still warm outside, surely your hands shouldn't be this cold" I spoke as I rubbed his hands between my own, attempting to bring the warmth back to them "Where were you really, Lucius?".

"I told you where I was, Alexandra. Do you not trust me?" Lucius asked what I thought to be a little icily. As his stony eyes bore down into my own, a slight feeling of uneasiness came over me.

"Of course I trust you. It's just that…" I hesitated for a moment "You know you don't have to lie to me, Lucius, you can tell me where you really were".

"I told you I went out for a walk!" Lucius snapped quickly in reply. His mouth was set into a scowl as he snatched his hands back from my grip. I saw out of the corner of my eye, the group of girls that I had noticed earlier shuffle a little before hurrying out of the common room and up the stairs to their dormitories. Only myself and Lucius were left sitting alone in the dim light that the few torches surrounding the room were giving.

I was hurt. Sure Lucius could be a little moody every once and a while but that never made it hurt any less when he did snap at me. I made to get up off the couch and leave, but as I did so I felt Lucius' cold hands grab my own once more and pull me back beside him. I didn't want to meet his gaze, so I kept my eyes focused on the stone floor below us. 

"Alexandra..." I shivered when I felt icy fingertips touch the side of my face, and Lucius gently steered my eyes to meet his own. His eyes had softened. A minute before they had been full of anger and annoyance, but now they twinkled once again with the gentleness that I was so familiar with.

"I'm sorry" He said in a soft whisper before he leaned towards me and pressed his lips gently against my own. I noticed that his lips, like his hands, were also unnaturally cold, and wondered for a moment what on earth could have caused it. But when Lucius soon started to deepen the kiss, all thoughts left my head and I found the familiar tingly sensation starting in my stomach once again. My hands found their way to the back of his neck where they started to tangle themselves in his soft, blonde hair and I sighed a little as I felt his warm tongue run teasingly along my bottom lip.

Lucius moved his hands behind me, and slowly lifted the hem of my top up a little in order to caress the warm skin on my back. Both his touch and the chill from his fingertips was sending shivers up and down my spine.

I deepened the kiss further, tugging gently on the front of Lucius' shirt as I lay back on the couch and pulled him on top of me. His hand moved slowly to tease the smooth skin of my stomach, making the butterflies inside grow more intense. I moaned softly when his tongue finally entered my mouth and began to caress my own.

It had been a while since Lucius and I had been alone together like this. I was so completely lost in our moment that I hadn't even noticed the new presence in the room…

**A/N: Alright so i FINALLY managed to get this chapter finished! I'm not sure how happy i am with the way it turned out... hopefully you guys are though. Ooooooo i wonder who it is imposing on Alex and Lucius' private moment ahaha trust me, it's not even a big shock, leave me a review if you wanna guess who it is p and if you don't wanna guess just leave a review anyway okay! Much appreciated **


	7. Take That, Sirius Black

**Chapter 7**

_Take That, Sirius Black_

"Eww! Would you guys get a room" I was rudely interrupted by the familiar, screechy voice of my so-called best friend, as she appeared behind the couch Lucius and I were on. Gently pushing Lucius off and sitting up on the couch I turned to glare at Bella.

"You always show up at the best of times, don't you" I said sarcastically, hoping she would notice the bite in my tone. She did. 

"Some people call it a talent" Bella replied with a cheeky grin.

I scowled "Your mother doesn't count as "some people", Bella. Now, is there something you wanted?" I asked, rather annoyed at Bellas unwanted presence.

"Alex, we have detention for Slughorn tonight. Did you forget, or were you just too _preoccupied_ to notice the time flying by" Bella replied exasperatedly, while twirling a strand of her raven hair around her finger.

Detention. I had forgotten. I cursed under my breath quietly. What an inconvenience.

"Detention? What could you have possibly done on your first day back at Hogwarts to land yourself in detention?" Came Lucius' silky voice from beside me.

I sighed heavily and leaned back onto the couch as I explained "One of them is for what happened with those idiots, Black and Potter, on the Express" I couldn't help but frown at the thought of those two dim-wits. In my opinion, they're a complete waste of our planets precious air.

"Ah yes. I'm afraid we're still waiting for our chance to thank them for that little mishap" Lucius replied with a cold smile "You said "one of them", am I to believe that you have more then one detention?"

"Yes" I replied through gritted teeth "I have another one tomorrow night for that scene Black caused in Potions today"

Lucius scratched his chin in thought as he stared into the nearby fireplace, which was burning quietly, even though there was no real need for the extra heat this time of year "I'm afraid I missed that" Lucius said "But it looks like our friend, Black, has a lesson or two to learn about self-restraint"

While rolling my eyes I agreed "Well, we better get going. I wouldn't want all my evenings to end up wasted on polishing suits of armour".

"Neither would I" Lucius replied softly. With a last apologetic look, I got up and followed Bella out of the common room. 

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"So you see, Padfoot. If you just charm these forks like so… then hang a cloth onto the end of the prongs… voila! Instant cleaning device. And that leaves us free to get the hell outta here and pursue our own choice of leisure-time activity" James Potter declared boisterously, after his demonstration of the "cleaning forks".

Instead of being stuck polishing suits of armour like I had originally guessed, James Potter, Sirius Black, Bella and I had all been thrown into the Great Hall together to polish up the silverware used for Hogwarts feasts instead. And I have to tell you that there's a hell of a lot of it, what with all the mouths to feed and all. So James had thought up his own idea of charming forks to do the work for him. Pathetic.

"That's genius, Prongs!" Sirius congratulated his friend with a hard slap on the back "Now the forks can do all the cleaning and we can go and work on…" After a shifty look in my direction, he said something quietly into James' ear. James nodded his head vigorously in reply, while casting a spiteful look at Bella. I rolled my eyes. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that they're scheming up some sort of plan to get us back for the "Express Incident", as I've come to so fondly call it.

Even though Bella and I had positioned ourselves as far away from the fork-charming idiots as possible (We had seated ourselves at the Slytherin table, and they were on the other side of the Hall at the Gryffindor one) it wasn't hard to see what they were trying to do. Bella gave a snort as she picked up yet another spoon to polish, and called across the hall "What a stupid idea! That's never going to work".

James turned away from his "project" to face us "Oh. And why not?" he called back, placing his hands on his hips rather femininely.

Bella simply pointed one of her long, pale fingers at the charmed fork behind him, whose cloth had fallen off the end and onto the floor, and whose prongs were now scraping against the plate rather dangerously, leaving thin scratch marks along the surface.

"Woah!" James rushed over to place the cloth back on the fork.

Bella snorted with laughter, and I couldn't help but snigger at the idiocy I was witnessing.

"Well… uh, in that case. You two will be here to make sure the cloths don't fall off the ends!" James said with a grin, folding his arms across his chest smugly. 

"Ha! In your dreams" I replied with a disbelieving laugh, wondering if he honestly expected us to help him out.

James' face fell a little and I realised that he indeed did. Moron. 

"Well…" he was clearly trying to think up another idea. This might take a while. I rolled my eyes once again and continued polishing the silverware the normal way. We had all agreed to divide the silverware into two halves. James and Sirius took the plates, bowls, and forks. While Bella and I had the goblets, spoons and knives. I personally thought we got the better half of the agreement. 

So while Bella and I had been polishing silverware with our good old hands, like we were supposed to, the idiots over the other side of the Hall had spent the whole time trying to think up spells and tricks that would help them get the job done faster. First they'd tried to remember the polishing charm that James had once seen his mother using on her own silverware, which went terribly wrong when they tried to re-enact it and only ended up in the plates getting covered in a whole lot of gooey, black liquid. Then they'd run off to the kitchens to try to convince a few of the House Elves to come and help them out. But when the House Elves showed up and proved that they were more of a nuisance then a help, that idea was soon ditched. And now James had thought up the "genius" idea of charmed forks. At this rate they were going to be here all night.

"I've got it! I've got it!" Sirius suddenly yelled out excitedly, waving his arms in front of James' hazel eyes, which were hidden behind his black-framed glasses. "You're Head Boy, right Prongs?" 

"Right" James replied proudly, casting a glance at the shiny badge that was attached to the front of his robes. Bella made a gagging sound.

"So…that means that you can order _them_ to polish these for us. And if they don't, take away all their House Points!" Sirius explained, looking awfully proud of himself as he pushed a few stray strands of black hair out of his eyes. 

"Excellent idea, Padfoot!" James replied, just as excitedly "Hey… hey! You two!"

Bella and I looked up at James, who was wearing possibly the biggest grin I've ever seen on that stupid face of his.

"I order you to polish these" he pointed to their pile of silverware "… now"

We didn't even bother to waste our breath replying to him. We simply scowled a little, turned our backs on them, and continued polishing. Our pile of silverware was slowly getting smaller and smaller, with any luck, we'd be out of here within an hour.

I heard a small "I don't think they're gonna do it, Padfoot" come from the other side of the room and snorted in disbelief.

Bella scoffed "Damn right we aren't gonna do it. What does he think we are, House Elves?"

"Merlin knows you look enough like one" The unmistakeable drawl of Sirius Black drifted over to us. The mere sound of his voice was enough to get my temper rising to unbelievable levels. Why did_ I_ have to be stuck in the same room with such a vile dirtbag?

"You know, Black, it's awfully rude to eavesdrop on other peoples conversations" I spat, in Bellas defence.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at me "It's also rather rude to be alive, when clearly no-one wants you here" he countered with a dark smirk.

I laughed bitterly "Nice point, Black. So why don't you do us all a favour and run off and die somewhere"

That wiped the stupid look off his face.

I sneered and turned to Bella, who was glaring furiously at Sirius. "You know, Bella" I began, loud enough for the two boys to overhear me "It amazes me how these buffoons actually managed to pass their O.W.Ls. They're like a couple of trolls, no wonder Evans has never passed a second glance at Potter"

I just can't help myself sometimes, I really can't.

James' face began to turn a bright shade of red. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. The malicious look that was now spreading over Bellas face encouraged me on.

"And I hear that's why Black's relationships never last over a week… that's all it takes for a girl to realise what a complete moron he is" I added, with a smirk in Sirius' direction "I, of course, realised it the first time I ever lay eyes on that stupid face of-" 

CLANG!

I was interrupted as a silver blur whizzed past my head only to hit the wall behind me, making a loud, clanging noise against the stone. I looked up at Sirius who was holding another plate in his hands, getting ready to hurl it in my direction. His stormy eyes were narrowed dangerously at me.

"_Protego_!" I managed to shoot out a quick shield charm before the plate collided with my head.

"Someone's a little touchy" I laughed, though rather half-heartedly as I could already see him reaching for another. Still, I carried on "Could it be that he just can't handle the truth?"

CLANG!

I dodged just in time as a bowl came flying in my direction and missed by only inches. That was a close one. I noticed Bella had attempted to hide herself behind our pile of silverware, like a barricade. I hate to tell her, but it wasn't working too well.

I ducked down under the long table, just as I heard another clang in our direction, this one apparently from James who had started yelling all sorts of nasty insults our way.

"Dirty, rotten…" CLANG! "…Head up her ass…" CLANG! "… Slytherin scum!" CLANG! CLANG!

I peeked out from my hiding spot and saw now that the boys were charming bits and pieces of silverware to launch in our direction. 

"You have serious fucking problems, Black!" I shrieked from beneath the table "Maybe if we send you off to St. Mungos you'll get the help you obviously need!"

"Maybe we should send YOU off to St. Mungos instead!" Sirius barked in retaliation "Or better yet, somewhere even further away. Maybe there's a little island somewhere in the middle of nowhere where all the little smug-faced bitches get sent to!"

I heard James howl with laughter at that as they continued charming the silverware in our direction.

"Oh, I can admit that I'm a bitch, but the only reason for that is because I have to deal with arrogant pricks like you everyday!. I guess we can't really blame you for your behaviour, can we Black, you sorry excuse for a wizard. It must have sucked to always come second to your little brother when you were growing up. Perhaps the real reason why your parents disowned you was because they couldn't stand the sight of your FACE!"

Silence. The sound of flying silverware had stopped completely. Footsteps. I peeked out from under the table once more, just in time to see Sirius storming out of the Great Hall, slamming the doors roughly behind him. James shot us a dirty look before hurrying to follow after his best friend.

"I guess now we know what gets to him the most" I said to Bella, not being able to stop a small smirk from forming on my lips.

Take that, Sirius Black. 

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I stumbled into the Slytherin common room later that night, thoroughly ready for bed and thankful that our detention from hell was finally over. I haven't the slightest idea how I'm supposed to make it through the year with Sirius Black as my potions partner. At the rate we're going, one of us isn't going to make it to the end of the year at all. It was around midnight, so as usual the common room was empty. Or so I thought. I noticed someone sitting in one of the armchairs next to the fire, hunched over a small table that was placed in front of him. The dim, fiery light that the fireplace was emitting was subtly lighting up his features. Wavy, black hair. Stormy, grey eyes. Regalus.

I guess now would be a better time then any to talk to him alone.

"I'm off to bed" Bella mumbled sleepily as she strode past me, rubbing her eyes as she did so.

"Yeah, I'll be up soon" I said absentmindedly as I made my way over to where Regalus was sitting. As I moved closer I noticed that he was writing on a piece of parchment that was set on the table in front of him. He looked up at me as I approached and smiled. Not the kind of cruel, mocking smile that I so often saw on the face of his brother. But a gentle one. The kind of smile you save for your friends. I smiled in return as I sat on a nearby couch.

"Homework?" I asked casually as I indicated to the parchment he was writing on.

He gave a small nod "Essay. For Potions".

I raised my eyebrows. Professor Slughorn was known for setting particularly difficult homework tasks. 

"Need any help?" I asked feebly, already knowing what the answer would be.

"Nah I'm alright thanks. Almost finished"

As I predicted.

"Of course you are" I replied, my smile widening "And let me guess. Rabastan gave up on his essay hours ago and is now tucked up in bed"

"Correct" Regalus replied with a small smile "He'll end up leaving it to the last minute to get done. You know what he's like"

"We all do" I said with a laugh.

I watched Regalus thoughtfully as he went back to scratching away with his quill again. It was amazing how I could adore this kid so much, yet feel so much hatred towards his older brother. How could two people who have had the same kind of upbringing, and look so much alike, end up so different? I guess the same question could be asked about my sister and I. But I already know that the answer to that is because she's a few ingredients short of a potion, if you know what I mean.

We sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes more before I decided to speak again.

"So… has everything been okay with you lately?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

"Yeah, it's been fine" Regalus looked up from his work, his forehead was creased slightly "Why do you ask?"

Suddenly I felt like more of a mother then a friend, but my priority right now was making sure that he was okay, so I continued "It's just that… you seemed kinda worried about something last night at dinner. I just wanted to make sure you're alright, that's all"

He sighed softly and lay his quill down on top of the table "Oh, that…" he said in a small voice as he sat back in his chair "It's nothing".

I frowned slightly "It's obviously something, Reg, otherwise you wouldn't be acting this way. You know you can tell me anything, right?" I said gently.

Regalus pushed his hair out of his face before his eyes met mine "Yeah, I know…" he replied before trailing off.

"So?" I urged him on. I was used to him seeming so solemn all the time, but not like this. It seemed like he was carrying some kind of weight on his shoulders that someone so young shouldn't have to bear.

He looked down to his feet "It's just that… I'm worried about you, Alex" he said firmly.

Huh? Reg is worried about me? I thought I was the one worrying about him…

"What do you mean?" I asked him, utterly confused.

"Well, I've always known that you have some kind of feud going on with Sirius, I guess I never really thought about it too much. But after what happened the other day, it made me think what if something bad ends up happening?" his eyes met mine once again and I could see how serious he was about this. For the first time in my life, I could actually see that Regalus was afraid.

"Reg…" I began softly "Nothing bad is going to happen. You shouldn't worry so much"

Regalus sat forward in his chair with a jolt "You ended up in the hospital wing, Alex. That's bad enough!"

I couldn't help but let a small laugh escape my lips "You're worried about that? It was only a little scratch, Reg. Black ended up much worse then I did, believe me" I replied, trying to calm him, but his expression remained unchanged.

"Really? But… he's okay, right?" he asked quickly, then flushed slightly at the words that had left his mouth.

I raised an eyebrow at him. Now it was clear. I wasn't the only one that Regalus was worried about.

"He's fine. I mean, maybe not mentally, but he's not gonna die or anything" I replied reassuringly. Regalus exhaled a little and sat back in his chair again.

"Reg…" I began slowly, choosing my words carefully "You need to stop worrying. Black and I fight, yeah, but it's not like we're out to kill each other. I know it must be hard for you, because he's your brother and all, and I can see that you still care about him, even after everything that's happened. But I promise you, nothing bad will happen… okay?"

Regalus was staring ahead of him thoughtfully. His expression still looked unchanged. After a few moments silence he looked to me.

"There's gonna be a lot more fighting" he said quietly, in almost a whisper.

I was confused. Why would there be more fighting?

"What are you talking about?" I asked carefully, not wanting him to close up.

"I'm not supposed to talk about it, not many people know about it yet… but there's this guy…" he trailed off once again, staring into the fireplace.

"What guy? Who is he?" I asked immediately. I had a bad feeling about this.

"I'm not supposed to talk about it" Regalus repeated quickly, and with that he began to pack up his parchment and quills off the table in front of him.

I wanted to know more. I _needed_ to know more. Who was this guy that had Regalus so scared?

"Reg… talk to me. Who is this guy?" I demanded, though my voice sounded more then a little strained.

"A little late for chit-chat, isn't it?" I instantly recognized the sleek voice of Lucius that had filled the room. I turned at once and saw he was standing at the foot of the stairs that led to the boys dormitories, dressed only in a pair of dark pyjama pants. His face was half hidden in the shadows, but his eyes were gleaming forebodingly.

"Lucius, what are you doing up?" I asked casually, though feeling more suspicious then ever.

"I could ask the same to you, Alexandra" he replied darkly, taking a few steps towards me "I assume your long day has left you tired, perhaps you should hurry up to bed" It wasn't a question, but more a command.  
When I didn't move Lucius spoke again, but more gently "Please, Alexandra. I need to speak to Regalus. In private"

I wasn't too keen to leave, but I knew I didn't really have a choice. I looked over to Regalus who had once again regained his solemn expression. Silently I began to make my way to the staircase.

"I don't get a goodnight kiss?"

Lucius took my arm firmly as I passed him. An icy smile on his face, and the kind of look in his eyes that unnerved me. I gave him a quick peck on the lips and said a small "Goodnight" before continuing on. The atmosphere in the room was so cold. I could feel Lucius' intense stare on my back as I made my way up the staircase and to my dormitory.

Once I had closed the door I hurried straight over to my bed. All the other girls were asleep, as expected. Bella was snoring quietly in the bed next to mine, as she usually did. Once I was safely in bed I drew the dark green curtains around me. I lay in bed for some time thinking about what had happened downstairs. Who was the guy that Regalus was so reluctant to talk about? Why did Lucius need to speak to him in private? And why were they acting so strange. So… different.

Something weird is going on. And I plan on finding out what it is. 


	8. Pixie Dust

**Chapter 8**

_Pixie Dust_

The next morning I awoke with a start. I could feel something warm moving underneath my bed covers. Small, and furry, it was some kind of animal. A rat? No. No-one in Slytherin was permitted by their parents to own something so disgusting. Praying to Salazar that it wasn't another prank of those brainless Marauders, I sat up groggily and whipped the blankets off my bed to find no more then Violets snow-white cat, Mozzie, lazing around beside my legs, purring contently and rubbing her slimy wet nose all over my skin. Ugh.

I shooed Mozzie away angrily. Damn cat. She was always getting in peoples way, and leaving that disgusting fur of hers all over our clean robes, that she liked to sleep on often. It drove everyone in the room stark raving mad. Except Violet of course, who didn't seem to be aware that Mozzie was actually of the four-legged species, and not, obviously, human. The way she babied the animal was sickening.

Bella seemed to have it the worse however. Whenever she was within five feet of the beast, she started sneezing and carrying on like a wild Hippogriff with it's leg caught in a trap. It didn't help that Bella seemed to be the only one that Mozzie had taken a natural disliking to. When she started hissing and spitting in Bella's direction you couldn't help but wonder if the thing actually sensed the craziness that was radiating off of the girl. I was surprised Bella hadn't resorted to throwing the thing out the window just yet.

A loud thud came from somewhere nearby.

"Fucking animal! Violet if you don't get rid of this pest soon, I'm gonna throw it out the nearest window!"

Perhaps I spoke too soon.

I wasn't surprised to look over and see Mozzie perched on the end of Bellas' bed, back arched angrily and fur standing on end. Bella had snatched someone's robe up and was holding it threateningly towards the animal, as if she intended to throw it over top of her.

"Mozzie, no!" Violet shrieked hurriedly as she scooped Mozzie up into her arms, stroking her lovingly whilst casting a wary glance in Bellas direction. Mozzie started purring again immediately and nuzzling her nose against Violets chin.

"What's with all the noise?" A small voice came from somewhere nearby. In the bed on the other side of mine, Kendra was groggily poking her head out from under the covers, her jade green eyes tiredly looking in our direction. She yawned loudly and pushed her auburn curls out of her eyes. I briefly noticed that Isabella was once again absent, her bed made up perfectly once more.

"Mozzie and Bellatrix were just having another disagreement" Violet whispered to her best friend in reply.

Bella snorted "I heard that, Parkinson, and I meant what I said. If you don't keep that ball of fur away from me then there'll be hell to pay".

I sighed inwardly and pulled my covers up over my head. I hope this wouldn't become a regular morning occurrence.

***

I found myself walking down to the Great Hall for breakfast alone that morning, which was an unnaturally rare occurrence. But Bella was taking longer then usual to get ready today, and was still in a bad mood after her run-in with Violets cat this morning. Besides I had so many thoughts racing around in my head that I wasn't at all happy to sit around and wait for her all morning, I needed some time to myself to think things over.

It had taken an exceptional number of hours for me to finally drift off to sleep the night before. I still had the incident concerning Regulus and Lucius so fresh in my mind, and it was driving me crazy trying to make sense of it all. The next time I had the chance to speak to Reg alone, I would definitely be a lot more firm in getting some answers out of him.

As I walked along the gloomy corridors that led out of the dungeons I scowled at the portraits I walked past. The inhabitants were so rude, always staring and making unnecessary comments whenever I walked by. There was one portrait of a lone, young wizard that I was particularly wary of. Every time I passed by he had some kind of foul remark just waiting for me. This particular morning I approached to find him dozing against his gilded frame. I snorted scornfully and contemplated sabotaging him in his sleep just for a laugh.

I stared at the small plaque that was situated beneath the antique frame and wrinkled my nose.

_Deryk Lynch. 1895- 1916_

_Youngest Seeker Ever Admitted To The National Irish Quidditch Team_.

Deryk Lynch. It's funny how in all my years of walking through these corridors I had never known the guys name. But no wonder he was such an arrogant prick, he was a Quidditch player. As for the Irish team, well, that explains the irritating accent. I looked closer at the dates engraved on the plaque. 1895-1916. He was only 21 when he died. I wondered vaguely how it had happened. It was probably some freak Quidditch accident. But why did I care anyway, the guy was a complete git.

Almost directly across from Deryks' portrait there stood a lavishly decorated full length mirror. I stood in front of it and surveyed my reflection. My dark hair was still a little damp from my shower that morning. It was developing a slight wave as it dried so I quickly pulled it up into a loose ponytail. I leaned closer towards the mirror in order to rub away a little mascara that had smudged in the corner of one of my eyes.

"It doesn't matter how long you stare at it, unfortunately you're stuck with that face for life" Came the familiar drawl of Deryk Lynch behind me.

I whipped around and found that he had awoken, predictably at the worst of times. He was still leaning against the side of his frame, his arms crossed over his chest smugly. His dark eyes held that familiar glitter of mischief, as usual. I glared at him impatiently "Nobody asked for _your_ opinion, not that one of a stupid portrait matters anyway".

"I see you're just as pleasant as always this morning" Deryk countered with an annoyingly sly grin. Why in the name of Merlin did everyone in this god-forsaken place seem so determined on disturbing my peace?

"If you don't mind, I have better things to do then talk to an image of a washed-up Quidditch loser" I snapped huffily before storming off down the corridor and away from Deryks portrait before he could get another word in.

***

Once I had taken my seat in the Great Hall I wasn't surprised at all to find Evan and Rodolphus already shovelling down their second serving of breakfast. I rolled my eyes as I grabbed a piece of toast from the nearest plate.

"Do you think you guys could eat any faster?" I teased.

"We could certainly try" Evan grinned at me between mouthfuls of food.

I poked my tongue out at him briefly before continuing with my breakfast. A few moments later Narcissa joined us at the table, she perched herself next to me and reached across the table to grab an apple from the fruit bowl. Her light blonde hair was pulled back into it's trademark bun. I noticed her crystal blue eyes still held that distant look that had been haunting them of late. She was looking just as pale and fragile as ever.

"Alright, Cissy?" I asked her casually as she took a small bite from her apple. She simply nodded her head softly in reply.

"Morning, love"

I was momentarily distracted from Narcissa as a familiar, cold hand found it's way onto my shoulder. I found myself feeling slightly anxious as Lucius took a seat beside me. I had still been thinking about everything that had happened in the common room the night before and was starting to think that perhaps Lucius may not be altogether trustworthy. However, I forced a small smile and was genuinely pleased when he returned the favour.

No sooner had Lucius taken his seat that Narcissa firmly placed her barely eaten apple on the table, before standing up abruptly and walking off without a word. Evan and I glanced fleetingly at each other for a moment, wordlessly speculating the nature of her departure, but after a few seconds merely shrugged it off and assumed she had somewhere else to be.

I wasn't feeling altogether that hungry this morning, but I took a bite from the piece of toast I was holding anyway, thinking it best not to start the day on an empty stomach.

"So, do you guys have any plans after classes? I was thinking that maybe we could all go hang out by the lake or something. You know, make the most of the warm weather before it's too late" I asked the guys casually as I crunched away on my toast.

"Sorry, no can do Alex" Evan replied "We've got Quidditch trials this afternoon. Even though half the teams formed already, we still have a few places left to fill. And by the way, guess who made Captain this year" he added as he flashed a grin in Lucius' direction.

"Really? Well we all knew it'd be you, Lucius! Congratulations" I exclaimed with a quick kiss on Lucius' cheek.

"Thank you" Lucius replied with a small nod of his head "I'm sure that under my guidance the Slytherin team will succeed in taking the Quidditch Cup yet again this year. It's only natural".

"Of course, of course. As if that was in jeopardy. We have the strongest team for sure, ain't that right Rod?" Evan boasted proudly as he nudged Rodolphus, who was still busy scoffing down his breakfast so merely grunted in agreement "Slytherin has taken the Cup the past four years in a row, there's no doubt that we're gonna make it a fifth time!"

"And you know that Bella and I are always keen on taking out the other teams players beforehand, just to make things even easier for you of course" I added with a wink.

Evan let out a low chuckle "That's my girl. You know, we have double Defence first thing this morning. I'm sure Professor Keyes wouldn't mind too much if we skipped it and hung out in that secret common room on the seventh floor instead" He suggested "I'm not sure he notices anything once he starts rambling on about his precious Dark Arts. Besides, it's not like we're gonna miss out on anything we don't already know".

"Good idea" Rodolphus said as he lay his knife and fork down on the table on front of him and leaned back in his chair comfortably "I'm sick of listening to those bloody Gryffindors' complaining every lesson"

I nodded in agreement "Well I'm keen. And I know Bella will be too. How about you Lucius?"

"I don't see why not. Defence class has surely taken on a certain dullness thus far" Lucius replied grimly.

"Only because we've been teaching ourselves that stuff since we were eleven" I smirked "Anyway, let me go and track down Bella and we'll meet you guys up on the seventh floor soon" I said as I gave Lucius a peck on the lips and went in search of my best friend.

***

Evan and Rodolphus were already lazing around on the sofas in front of the fire when Bella and I entered the room. The room that we refer to as the secret common room was merely just a smaller, somewhat cosier version of our own Slytherin Common Room, decorated in all green and silver. And apparently one that only we happened to know about. Evan and Rodolphus had stumbled across it one day when they were skipping class and were searching for an empty classroom to spend their time in. This room served to be a perfect choice.

"Where's Lucius?" I asked when I noticed his absence.

"Said something bout going to talk to Severus, then he'd meet us here later" Rodolphus replied offhandedly.

Bella hurried over to sit next to Rodolphus, while I moved towards the other sofa and plonked myself down right on top of Evans outstretched legs.

"Hey" Evan shouted in protest "This space is occupied, if you don't mind"

"Move it or lose it, buddy" I smirked at him, earning one of those perfectly charming smiles from him in response as he moved his long legs to make space for me on the sofa next to him.

"Hey guys., look what I managed to snatch off Avery earlier this morning" Rodolphus announced as he pulled a small, clear bag out of his robe pocket which contained a silvery-white powder of some sort, and passed it over to Evan and I to take a closer look at. Lance Avery was a sixth year Slytherin who hung out with us every now and then, but preferred mostly to keep to himself. He was well known among the students for messing around with mind-altering substances and the like.

"Nice score, man! What kind of price was Avery asking for this?" Evan asked as he admired the bag of powder he was holding in his hands.

"Discount price for his best customer of course, only seventeen Galleons and three Sickles. And it's top of the line stuff as well!"

I snatched the bag out of Evans hands to take a closer look at the "top of the line" product. It shimmered faintly in the light as I surveyed it. There was definitely something magical about it.

"You paid seventeen Galleons for barely a spoonful of something that looks like a bloody cosmetic product!" Bella shrieked at Rodolphus, clearly unpleased at her boyfriends splurge.

"It's not a cosmetic product!" Rodolphus said in defence "It's called Pixie Dust. It's not actually pixie dust though, I think it's some part of a unicorn, though I can't be too sure which part. But that would explain why the price is so high and why it's so bloody hard to get a hold of. Don't ask me how Avery manages to sneak it into the castle, that boy is not one to let up his secrets so easily" he finished with a grin.

"I can't believe you actually managed to get a hold of it, I haven't seen this stuff in about four years!" Evan exclaimed excitedly "This will surely brighten things up, eh girls?"

I raised my eyebrows at him "I've heard about this stuff before. Doesn't it, like seriously fuck up your mind and make you see all kinds of spooky stuff?" I asked warily. The previous stories I'd heard about this Pixie Dust had not been good ones.

"Only if taken in huge amounts" Rodolphus assured me quickly "But taken in small doses, it's guaranteed to add a serious kick to your day" he grinned.

Bella snorted loudly "Count me out. I'm not a spokesman for animal cruelty or anything, but hacking up unicorns just to add a "kick" to your day isn't something I'm into" she said severely.

"I agree" I said with a nod of my head "Besides I gotta be in the right state of mind for Charms this afternoon if I plan on beating our dear Head Girl at the only subject she's any good at" I added, earning a shriek of laughter from Bella.

"Aww, you're no fun" Evan sulked and tickled me on the side lightly. I laughed loudly and pushed his hand away roughly.

Rodolphus shook his head disapprovingly but still had a smile on his face "What do you two suggest we do for fun then?"

***

An hour or so after convincing Rodolphus to fetch us one of the bottles of the Firewhiskey he kept stashed under his bed in the boys' dormitory, Bella and I found ourselves huddled on one of the sofas together, while Evan and Rodolphus enjoyed a not so successful game of Wizards Chess. It was quite entertaining watching them drunkenly moving the pieces around the board. They had both hexed a fair few of the others pieces, blowing them square off the board, with Rodolphus once trying to hex Evan because he was convinced he had been cheating.

I hadn't really played a lot of Wizard Chess, but I'm pretty sure that hexing the other player was not part of the original rules. Nor was "drowning" chess pieces in glasses of Firewhiskey.

Bella gave me a small nudge in the side and whispered quietly "I wonder where Lucius has gotten too?"

I had been thinking that myself. He had said he was going to talk to Severus. I wonder what about? I couldn't help but notice how strange Lucius had been acting since we arrived back at Hogwarts. It had only been a few days but he was suddenly so distant… as if he constantly had other things on his mind. Things that he wasn't at all keen on sharing with me.

I remember when we had first gotten together, nearing the end of sixth year. Lucius had been so sweet and attentive, he had always treated me like I was the only thing that mattered in life. We had been friends for a long time beforehand, so when we started our relationship it was like taking something good and making it great.

But now… things were starting to change, and I knew there was something behind it. I couldn't help but think about what Regulus had been saying, about this guy…

I didn't know who this guy was, or even his name, but my gut was telling me that the answers to my questions lay within finding out this identity.


	9. Hide & Seek

**Chapter 9**

_Hide & Seek_

"Now class, have any of you heard of the Gemino Curse?"

The slim, pale hand of our beloved Head Girl shot up in the air almost immediately.

"Ah, Miss Evans, I knew you would" Squeaked Professor Flitwick cheerily from atop a pile of books at the front of our Charms classroom. His dark, beady eyes peered out from his tiny round spectacles as he scanned the rest of the class. I waved my hand in the air lazily, as did a few other people around the room. It came as no surprise when the next words to leave the petite Professors mouth were "Would you care to explain the purpose of the Gemino Curse to the class, Miss Evans" .

"Certainly, Professor" I rolled my eyes as Lily Evans cleared her voice before addressing the class "The Gemino Curse causes the target object to multiply a number of times when touched. I believe it s often used as a security device"

"Right you are, Miss Evans. Ten points to Gryffindor for your answer" Professor Flitwick beamed at the fiery-haired girl, who could hardly conceal the smile she was wearing on her own face. I scoffed loudly, causing Lily to turn in her seat and glare at me spitefully. I made an obscene hand gesture at the red-head before she turned back to face the Professor.

"The Gemino Curse is indeed a highly effective security device" Flitwick was further explaining "I've heard rumours that the most precious of treasures that are stored in the vaults of Gringotts Bank are protected by this curse. It is a rather effective way of warding off would-be thieves. However, we cannot forget that this spell is indeed, a curse. It can be very, very dangerous if used incorrectly. So it is not the Gemino Curse we will be looking at today, but rather a more prudent alternative. A Charm with the name of Geminio. Capable of duplicating an object only once, the Geminio Charm can come in quite handy in times of need. Now if you would please take out your quills, we'll start the class with a few basic notes".

I sighed and rested my head on the hard desk in front of me. I wish for once Flitwick would take a risk and teach us something that was actually interesting for a change. I mean come on, the Geminio Charm? That has to be at least fourth year stuff. And not to mention, utterly useless. I didn t even bother pulling my quill and ink out from my bag. Unlike prissy little Head Girl Evans, I could master this charm without some useless notes. Beside me, Bella was frantically scribbling away on her parchment. On the other side, Severus was doing pretty much the same as I was. Looking utterly bored. Lucius, Evan and Rodolphus hadn't decided to take Charms this year, they took as minimal classes as possible so they could have all the time they could get to work on their Quidditch skills.

I leaned back in my seat and sighed once more. I was still feeling the effects of the Firewhisky that we had drunken earlier, and besides that I really wasn't in the mood for this class today. I almost stormed right out of the room when I had found out we had Charms with the Gryffindors yet again this year. A year of watching Lily Evans ass-kissing the Professor of her top subject was almost as bad as a year of being Potion partners with Sirius Black. Almost.

Though the class this year was predominantly made up of Gryffindors, I was delighted to see that Serenity hadn t made an appearance. She never really did have a talent for Charms, however. Her strengths lay more in the art of Divination and Herbology. You know, subjects that didn t require much logic.

The Dreadful Duo, however, happened to be conveniently sitting in the row directly behind Lily Evans and her friends, along with the other members of their posse, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Sirius, it seemed, had returned to his usual aggravating disposition. I winkled my nose in disgust as I watched him and James tossing Bertie Botts Beans at the girls in front of them who were wriggling around in their seats, attempting to look annoyed but not doing very well at hiding the fact that they were loving the attention from the two morons. All of them except Lily that is, who was desperately trying to ignore the flurry of beans that were bouncing all over the parchment in front of her.

By then I had had enough. I wasn't gonna waste the next hour of my life surrounded by a bunch of uncivilised monkeys. I grabbed my bag from under the table as quietly as possible and nudged Bella roughly.

"Let's get outta here" I whispered harshly and received an enthusiastic nod in reply.

"Wanna come with us, Sev?" I asked the raven-haired boy, knowing full well what the answer would be. A small shake of the head. Skipping class was never really Severus thing, nor something that he wholly approved of.

"Suit yourself" I replied with a shrug of my shoulders. I waited for a minute or two until Flitwork had turned back around to scribble some notes on the blackboard at the front of the classroom, then me and Bella snatched up our bags and crept along the row to the door as quietly as possible, hoping not to catch the Professors, or those pesky Gryffindors, attention.

***

Once we were safely out of the room I sighed heavily and tossed my bag strap casually over one shoulder.

"Praise Salazar we didn t have to put up with Evans and Flitwicks little love affair with Charms any longer. I seem to get an unnaturally strong urge to regurgitate whenever I hear that red-headed two-shoes receiving his praise" .

Bella nodded her head in agreement.

"Tell me about it. Flitwick is a brainless midget if he thinks Evans is such the star he seems to. She's nothing but a slimy little worm. Too bad we always have to be around to witness his stupidity"

"It seems as if Lady Luck is not on our side this year, my dearest friend" I recited in my best Dumbledore voice as I slung my arm around the slim girls shoulders.

"Hear, hear" Came a voice behind us from someone that was clearly not of the female species.

I cringed inside. Who are the only people in Hogwarts that would stalk around behind Bella and I in the corridors after we had successfully managed to slip out of Charms class, seemingly not as unnoticed as we had hoped.

You guessed it. Sirius Black and James Potter.

Thinking that I had had enough of these two's antics to last a lifetime, and was honestly not in the mood for another confrontation with them today, I turned around reluctantly. To my surprise their snivelling little friend, Peter Pettigrew, had decided to be a rebel for once and tag along with the two of them today. Oh, joy.

"I'll have you two know that cutting class at Hogwarts is a crime wholly worthy of punishment, and is severely frowned upon by authority figures, like myself" James recited proudly.

I rolled my eyes, he was playing the Look-At-Me-I'm-Head-Boy card again. As if we didn t already know. Or care.

"Uh, well if we're cutting class then what do you idiots think you're doing?" Bella replied icily, sounding just as fed up with the two of them as I was.

"Merely upholding the law, dear cousin" Sirius drawled, earning a hiss of dislike from Bella.

"In that case I'll have _you_ know, Black, that you and your little rodent of a friend, Pettigrew, aren t exactly in any position to be upholding that law" I spat, but Sirius still continued smirking at me darkly.

"Yes, but I am" James countered coolly. Peter stayed quiet but was watching the exchange with a look of pure delight etched upon his disgusting face "And because of that I'm fully entitled to take away 50 points from Slytherin. Each"

Just as I was preparing to muster up a come-back worthy enough to wipe the infuriating look of triumph off of James' face, I felt something soft brush up against my left ankle. Looking down I noticed that damn beast of the Hogwarts caretaker, Mr Filch, staring up at me through her demonic-red eyes, and immediately knew that wherever this cat appeared, trouble followed in the form of her lunatic owner.

The cat let out a loud meow, obviously a summons to her master to let him know that trouble was afoot.

Surely enough, not even a few seconds later we heard the gruff reply of the caretaker.

"Mrs Norris? What have you found lurking around in the corridors, my dear" Filch was just around the corner behind us, his footsteps echoing on the cold stone floor as he moved closer.

"Shit!" Bella hissed quietly and without a moments hesitation we were off, running straight past the boys in front of us and around the nearest corner. Heavy footsteps from behind us seconds later told us that the boys hadn't waited much longer before following our lead.

"Hurry up, Bella!" I growled as I chanced a look behind me to see Bella slowing down a little. James and Sirius had swiftly passed her and were now pulling up beside me. I looked behind me once more just in time to see Bella shoving Pettigrew into the nearest wall and couldn't help but suppress a chuckle. As I turned the next corner I spotted a door to the left of me. Hoping it would be an empty classroom or some sort I reached for the doorknob. But all at the same time another hand came down on mine heavily and I pulled back in alarm. Sirius pulled his hand back just as hastily as I had my own.

I scowled. No way was he taking _my_ hiding spot. Almost as if Sirius had been thinking the exact same thing we both rushed for the door, pushing each other aside roughly as we did. Finally Sirius elbowed me aside and opened the door sharply. As he did I managed to slip in swiftly before he slammed the door shut.

Thinking that once we were inside the room I could lock the door hurriedly then proceed to wait in the furthest corner possible from Sirius until Filch and that repulsive feline of his had passed by, I was horrified to find out how incredibly wrong I was. The room was not much of a class as it was a closet. And a very small and dark closet at that. As I turned around I smacked straight into Sirius broad chest. He pushed me back against the door forcefully.

"Get outta here!" he barked viciously "I got here first".

"Excuse me but my hand touched the door first so either YOU get out or you ll end up with a foot where your face used to be" I countered as I extracted my wand from my pocket and shoved it in his face, which was barely an inch away from my own.

In an instant I was met by a sharp prod in the forehead which I took to mean he had whipped his own wand out as well., though they were virtually useless as the lack of space and light didn t allow a lot of room to aim a successful curse.

"Ouch!" I shrieked angrily "You fucking idiot!" I shoved Sirius into the wall which was only a few inches behind him and heard a loud clanging noise as his leg collided with a metal object of some sort, probably a pail.

"Bitch!" he snarled in return and attempted a curse which missed terribly and bounced off the wall in a flash of red light. In my haste to dodge the curse I had knocked into a broom which had fallen into me and served only to aggravate me more. I grabbed the broom furiously and swung it in Sirius direction as best as I could. A loud thump and groan of pain meant the broom had successfully made contact with some part of him. Just as I was about to swing the broom again, Sirius hand lashed out and he pulled the handle out of my hands roughly. I had just started screaming at him once more when all of a sudden he clamped his hand against my mouth fiercely, forcing me against the wall yet again.

"Shut up!" He whispered harshly and I could tell why when I heard a loud meow coming from just outside the door moments later. I immediately stomped on Sirius foot to make him release his hand from my mouth. His forehead collided with my shoulder as he winced in pain sharply which made me instinctively push him away from me again.

Sirius grabbed my arms and pinned me against the wall violently.

"Stay still and for the love of Godric shut the _fuck_ up" he whispered dangerously. I struggled for a few seconds against him but when I heard footsteps approaching I froze instantly. Another meow came from the other side of the door, followed by loud purring.

"What have you found there, my love? Those trouble-makers no doubt. Hiding behind this door, you say?" Filch cooed and chuckled darkly. I quietly thanked Salazar that I had thought to lock the door behind me, I'd be seriously pissed off if I had to go through anymore detentions this week.

Sirius flinched as Filch rattled the doorknob and I was only then aware of how close his body was to mine. Not that there was a lot of room to move around in here, and Sirius wasn't exactly slim built. He was a Beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, along with Colin Creedy, or "Colin Creepy" as we Slytherins liked to call him. And along with his fit Quidditch physique there was also his strength. His hands had loosened slightly but were still firmly pinning my wrists to the wall. I didn't think I'd be able to free them no matter how much I wanted to. Which was a lot. I mean, I was stuck in a closet with my most hated enemy, of course I wanted to escape.

"Clever trouble-makers at that" Filch snarled quietly outside the door, then proceeded to thump away on the hard wood "There's no use hiding, I know you're in there! If you come out right now, I promise to go easy on you" the old man wheezed.

_Yeah right, you deluded old Squib. I wonder how many students that particular tactic has worked on. My guess. . . None._

Sirius grip on my arms relaxed a little more as he shifted around a bit. I was slowly growing more and more uncomfortable at the lack of space between us.

The thumping on the door started growing louder "You come out here right now! You hear me? Or I'll. . . I'll. . ."

_You'll what? Cough on us? Tell us we ought to be taught a lesson? Been there before, mate. . ._

"I'll be forced to take matters into my own hands. . ."

My face was so close to the crook of Sirius neck I could actually smell some kind of cologne radiating off of his skin. It was starting to make me feel nauseous.

". . . Perhaps a good whipping like how we used to do it in the old days. . ."

I shuddered slightly as his hot breath tickled the side of my face, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Oh, how he repulses me.

". . . My detentions used to be so well feared, when I first started at Hogwarts. . ."

My hands started shaking as he adjusted his grip on my arms. How could I be in such close proximity of this vile being.

". . . The students were so much more courteous back then. . ."

The loud pounding of my heart was echoing in my ears.

". . . Would never ever _dream_ about skulking around the castle when they weren't supposed to"

It's all too much, I have to get out of here.

"Well then, Mrs Norris. It looks like we're not going to get much cooperation here"

I can t breathe.

"Wait here, my pet, while master fetches the keys from his office. We wouldn't want these students to get away without a good whipping now would we. The Headmaster will never know"

Mrs Norris meowed obediently as Filch finally wandered away chuckling to himself, his footsteps growing fainter until finally all we could hear was Mrs Norris scratching against the door and meowing softly.

"Would you let go of me!" I started struggling against Sirius' grip once again. As soon as he dropped his hands I reached for the door desperately.

"Wait!" Sirius cried while pulling my arm back roughly again "We can't go out yet, that damn cat will keep following us until Filch catches up".

I scoffed and replied derisively as I snatched my arm back "Unlike some of us, I'm not overly fond of hanging around in stuffy closets" Although I couldn t see through the pitch black I just knew that Sirius was glaring at me for the thousandth time that day which made me smirk contentedly.

"But if you wanna stay in here and wait for Filch to come back, then be my guest. I'm sure you two could find something _fun_ to do in here" I laughed softly to myself and opened the door, to which Mrs Norris started meowing loudly once more. After aiming a quick stunning spell in her direction, I strutted off down the corridor, intending to head straight to the shower and wash the Gryffindor stench off of me.


End file.
